The Life of a Phoenix
by Shriayle
Summary: What if Bella was always one of the Volturi? What if she wasn't born in the twenty-first century, but in the ninth, in medieval England? What if her siblings were the infamous witch twins—Jane and Alec? And what has time planned to test out the three's sibling bond? AU: starts in 800 AD. Rated T for innuendos, violence, occasional language.
1. Prologue: Birth

The mother was sobbing.

The birth was not going as well as the clergy had expected. Something was wrong with the children inside the womb, something devious, something dark.

Another scream wrenched itself from the agonized woman. She prayed to the great Father above to end her suffering, through ending the painful birth or even just ending her life. She prayed to the God that had never let her down before, that had given her the miracle of having more children after the Doctor had told her it was impossible.

The woman could taste the bitter irony of her wish.

From the beginning, these children had been a pain. They had caused a blinding headache and an overwhelming nausea. The woman had been barely able to crawl out of her bed, let alone her house, to purge herself in the waves of illness that struck her in the morning. Her stomach had distended further than it had with her first child.

Her first child. A daughter with beautiful brown eyes and red-brown locks. Her skin was pale as the clouds that furnished the Holy Father's Land in the Clouds and soft as if it were the touch of God Himself. Her mother had adored the baby girl the moment she had been conceived; none of the pain the mother now knew had ever occurred with this first child. It was as if she were a gift from God to the mother when she prayed for a dear child, much like Jesus Christ was to the deity.

She had named the girl in hopes that she would be as loyal to the Father as her mother was. Isabella, devoted to God.

A year and a few moons later, after seeing how gentle Isabella was growing to be, and how caring, the mother prayed once again to God. She prayed for the same miracle as the Great Mother Mary had received. And she had received her blessing.

A twisted blessing.

For the children, and she found there were two of them growing inside of her, were ravenous monsters. They squirmed and kicked each other in competition for food. One, the stronger, was decidedly masculine to the mother, and she began calling him Alexander after the great Greek general she had heard so much of. The other, the weaker, still clung to life. She was called Jane, as she and her brother were both gifts from God, despite all of the suffering they caused.

The mother wailed again. The children were shoving each other, jostling to be the first one to leave the shadowy world they had known for so long. The midwife with the woman looked panicked as she tried to press down against the two babies and they just fought right back. The woman's sister was holding Isabella in the corner; the poor girl was bawling in response to the mother.

"Is it almost over?" the woman begged. The midwife gave one last definite push before looking at her sympathetically. "Aye, I do think so," she responded. "One of 'em should be born soon, mim, don't you worry about that."

The woman gave a shudder as another wave of pain racked her. "Please, my Alec, my Jane," she begged out loud. "Please save your mother from the suffering you are forcing her through now. Please," she cried over and over.

The clergyman hurried in, having heard of the struggle from the crowd of neighbors that were nervously standing outside of the hut's door. "Miss Helen," he said calmly. The mother turned her wild eyes to him. "You must be warned. This birth is not natural."

The mother grew silent, despite her growing pains. The agony in her eyes slowly morphed into hatred once she understood the man's words. "May your God be damned to Hell, heathen," she seethed. The midwife tried to shush her. "Nay, Mary, stay back," she snarled right back before turning to the clergyman again. "I don't follow your precious Pope for this reason. You may think you can control me in this, but not today. I will never follow your Church, and neither will my babes. May you rot in my Hell for even thinking so!"

At this moment, she gave another shriek. The priest winced back before his eyes widened. The woman's swollen stomach was beginning to shift, ever so slightly. The midwife hurried him and the woman's sister out of the hut before hitching up her dirty skirts and grabbing two linens to use for the babies.

The woman was at ease after her final scream. Her throat was hoarse, the space between her legs ached, and her stomach felt flat and overall just wrong, but she was so happy. She gazed fondly down at the two suckling babies in her arms. "Jane," she murmured, looking at her new daughter's pale brown hair. "Alec," she whispered, stroking her son's slightly darker locks. She smiled to herself, singing a song from the Torah, the Holy Book she read, and the twins drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Sometimes, the life of a person begins with a bang. Sometimes, it begins with a whimper. Such is the way the world is.

Sometimes, people open their eyes and see light, _glorious light!_ And they cry out in awe of the massive Light, the Light that was a giant contrast from the Dark they came from. Many times, eyes grow wide, reaching for the light, never making it. Other times, we just sit and stare into the beauty of the Light.

And we live our lives in the Light. We live to know. To know is to have Light. The Light is warm, safe, appealing. We must have Light for ourselves, so that we can radiate our warmth and feel safe among those who do the same. We fear the cold-blooded creatures that crawl on our feet or through the grass. We embrace the warm, furry creatures that share our warm-bloodedness and need for companionship.

But what happens when there is no Light? When all there is to look forward to is the Dark? When all we see is the shadowy Darkness rearing its ugly head towards us, smirking greedily, rapacious fingers trailing ever closer to our Light.

The Dark, the crawling, the shadows, the death, the unknown we can never foresee.

Many children grow up fearing the Dark, hiding from it or warding it away with small lights that stay on for as long as needed, and for good reason. The Dark holds our insecurities, our hatreds, our fears, our angers, our hatreds, and all things thrust into despair.

Our children are nothing like that. They absorb the Light, the happiness, the joy, the laughter, the merriness, the giddiness, the sheer ecstasy of life. They giggle and shriek as they sprint across rooms or fields, tripping ever so often but always getting back up. The Light is what draws them up in the end. They feel the urge from other children, other orbs of light, and they willingly subject themselves to the possibility of yet another fall, if only they can follow the light.

Within all of us is just a fragment of that light. Our lives are forever touched by that innocent period of our youth where we just embraced the light for all it was worth. We cling onto the light for our full, entire lives, however long that may seem.

But what happens when the light is snuffed out? What happens when the one treasure we fight to keep throughout our lives just dies one day? Would we just find ourselves in a coma for as long as the light takes to rekindle, or would we just die right away, our bodies cooling as they find themselves incapable of breathing more heat into limbs that refuse to work?

What if we overpower the Light, the fragile Light we fight so hard to keep whole? What if the Darkness finally reaches out and clamps down on our light, claiming it as its own?

What if we force ourselves to recombine and force the Light to return? What if we force the Darkness to relinquish some light, in exchange for service?

Because that's what some of us do. We were conquered by the Light and by its Reason, but we fought back and stole it back for our selfish desires. The Darkness works through us after our desperate hunt for life. We are sent to be the Dark's servants.

For that reason, Light hates us. No matter what we do, it stubbornly shies away from our very bodies. We can't support life on our own; we must consume the life force of other creatures to keep our bodies functioning.

For we are the body snatchers at night. We are the unknown murderers of the world. We are the saintly demons that descend during the Armageddon to plague mankind. We are the souls of those thought to be long since dead. We are the statues whose eyes seem to follow your every move as you walk across a room. We are the soul devourers, the dream eaters, the death defiers, the light snuffers.

We are the blood drinkers.

We are the night walkers.

We are the vampires.

We are the witch siblings.

Welcome to hell, you won't be leaving here soon.

Alive, anyways.


	2. Prologue: Noticed

**Hello there! Shriayle here, just wanted to thank anyone who has favorited/reviewed/followed this story! This is my first Twilight based fanfiction, so thanks for the attention, I guess xD I actually wanted to write a story about Jane and Alec only, but Isabella snuck in here somehow, darn her. She will be OOC from the book (AKA she will be more of a BAMF if I do say so myself) so if you want a spineless protagonist and love triangles, this definitely isn't the story for you! Just some warning.**

**Also much of what I say is powered by some form of energy I receive at midnight, so let me know if there are any mistakes so I can correct them! Thanks!**

**White Blood 01: Probably not; I'm planning on keeping the main book plot the same, only with Isabella as an additional Volturi guard. There will be another girl instead of Bella, though.**

* * *

Time passed. The mother watched at the moons grew and shrank from black voids to perfect white circles stuck in its sphere. Her hair grew gray and whitened, and her strength waned like the moon, but did not grow back. She gazed fondly at her children with gradually fogging eyes, until her youngest two reached the age of seven years before dying of stress and the ague.

Isabella had grown into a healthy young girl. She still had her pale, soft skin and her glowing brown eyes, but her hair lightened and became the color of a fine table worthy of being owned by only the greatest of lords. She had grown willowy but strong, and she ran about bare of foot and easy of mind. No one doubted her warm heart or her innocence; rather, the entire village became a haven for the orphaned child. She would walk into the Church and ask the clergyman sweetly for a copy of the Holy Book so that she could read the story of Esther once again.

Her siblings were another story. Alexander, or Alec as the villagers would call him, saying that his mother was a heretic enough, was also a sweet kid. He was somewhat slower than his sisters, physically, and some strangers would even say mentally. However, he was much smarter than his twin, almost as smart as his bookish older sister. He was the kind of person who would just stop what he was doing and stare into the sky. Not many people outside of Jane and Isabella really knew how to construe the odd behavior; some would tease him, asking which birds he wanted to shit on his face, and others would just shake their head in bewilderment and walk on.

Jane was the one that the other villagers were scared of. While she looked positively angelic, with her long, flowing hair and her wide, blue eyes, the people whispered that she was the reason for their mother's agony and eventual death. They said that she was a demon straight from hell, that she was Lucifer's spawn and should be treated accordingly. She had a sadistic streak, it was true; she would pilfer pieces of glass from the lord's house, somehow, and contently sit burning ants with the reflection. Every time an ant began to smoke, she would grin, and upon every pain-induced death, she would clap her hands and chortle before starting again with a new victim. Isabella tried her hardest to keep the glass away from her sister, but Jane would just find another piece from somewhere.

So the villagers nervously watched as the orphaned children, whose father was a soldier that had come to the Anglo Lands after serving the Franks. No one knew why he came, but soon after Jane and Alec were conceived, he had vanished, and his corpse washed up later. No one had the heart to tell the already ailing mother of his untimely death.

As the siblings grew, the villagers noticed Isabella beginning to care for Jane and Alec. When Jane ran in, bawling that one of the other children had shoved her into the mud, snarling, "Witch!", Isabella was the one to hug the girl and storm out to confront the unfortunate lad in question. When Alec wandered into the hut and asked about how the sky was blue, Isabella was the one to quietly quote scripture, reciting how in Genesis 1:6-8 "God made the expanse and separated the water above it." She was the one to bathe them, feed them, and clothe them, all while never taking more for herself than she needed. And the villagers chose to help her in her endeavor. They would drop by and give her some of the sub par crops that the village had to deal with, and she would always graciously accept the head of cabbage or small bowl of rye a villager gave her with a "God bless, good sir" or "May your children be blessed, ma'am." The village clergy recognized her sweet soul and helped her in caring for the children when she herself couldn't.

And so, Jane and Alec and Isabella grew strong and fit in the community, and all those who helped them found themselves blessed later on. The boy that helped Jane up when his friends decided to shove her into a pile of manure later found that his crops grew bountiful and well while the other boys' grew weak and feeble. The clergy that helped Alec learn to read and write got twice as many coins from the Pope for work in the village. And those who helped Isabella, those who gave her those crops and care, they found their work given back to them twice-fold and they were able to send their sons to towns to become apprentices.

The children themselves grew strong, despite inheriting their mother's short stature. Alec found himself growing taller than Jane, much to his amusement and her chagrin. Isabella was only a few inches taller than Alec, despite her two year advantage; the villagers predicted that he would cease growing soon enough, since they couldn't remember his father's height and just figured that he would be like his mother anyways.

Sometime before Jane and Alec's tenth birthdays, Isabella had ventured into the woods. It was a risky move, one the villagers balked at, but she had found a small clearing where the wood was firm and mostly dry, which she would haul back and give to her neighbors in exchange for food. It was an odd arrangement, but wood was scarce for the cowardly villagers, and they accepted it.

Isabella ventured through the brush, following her invisible path. She quickly and quietly walked through the trees, but soon stopped and turned around. "Jane? Alec?" she called back, and after a moment of silence, the two twins sheepishly emerged from the bushes they had been hiding behind. "What are you two doing here?" Isabella asked, her stern expression marred by the hint of a smile dancing around the corners of her mouth.

"W-we wanted to help, Isa," Jane muttered, fidgeting slightly. Her blue eyes were downcast. Alec stared down as well, but he just stood still, unlike his restless twin.

Isabella glanced towards the sky, checking the sun's position. It was spring, but the sun had already climbed almost to high noon. She let out a breathy sigh.

"Well, there's not enough time for me to take you back to the house," she admitted. Jane perked up a little bit and glanced up. Alec didn't move.

"Come along," the twelve-year-old girl said, beckoning for her younger siblings to follow her. Jane and Alec exchanged a happy look before darting along behind their sister, following her like loyal dogs. The trio made their way to the sunlit clearing.

Unbeknownst to them, another figure was watching them from the shadows of the forest. Crimson eyes glowed from the darkness as a girl, one that looked only slightly older than Isabella, observed the three with an interested glance. Their sweet scent curled over to her, and she began to salivate, but she held herself back. She flicked a single strand of hair away from her face nonchalantly, watching the dark brown curl slowly join its compatriots. All the while, she thought of the children that danced before her.

The girl watched as Isabella, Jane, and Alec began to gather sticks. She watched as the boy picked one up and jabbed his twin sister with a devilish smile. She watched as the girl grabbed one of her own and the two began to wrestle. She noted the girl's obvious advantage: she wasn't afraid to wound her brother. She watched as the older girl laughed before calling out to them in an unknown tongue; why didn't anyone speak Latin or French around here? The boy stopped at his older sister's words, but the younger girl took a while to calm down, turning a moping face over to her sister. The older girl gave her a stern look before calling out again, and the twins (for they looked too similar not to be) reluctantly began to gather wood once again.

By this time, the girl had seen enough. She danced back to her own family, where her mate and sister and brothers, as well as some other people, were gathering. They prepared to hunt.

One man, one that looked almost nine years the girl's senior, looked up. His eyes lit up upon seeing the girl approach.

"Sulpicia, my love," he crooned out. The dark-haired girl smiled coyly and responded, "Aro, darling," before they embraced. The other woman, one that looked around twenty, rolled her eyes and snorted. "You two are disgusting," she snapped out before walking away.

Aro and Sulpicia broke their hug, glaring at her back. When the other woman had gotten out of earshot (that is to say, extremely far away), Aro pecked his mate on the cheek and said, "Where did you get off to, my little doe?"

She put her hand in his and stared into his eyes as he scouted her mind for new memories. Upon coming across them, his eyes widened and he let go in shock. "Three potentials?" he whispered. She nodded.

"They are so young," he breathed, still surprised that they had found anyone at all. "Yes," she whispered, "but so perfect, too."

Aro closed his eyes. Yes, he could see the older girl at his side, her siblings flanking him. He could imagine it all.

Sulpicia watched as her mate took this new image in. She looked at him hopefully. "Well?"

He nodded. "They will join. But," he said, cutting off whatever she was about to say, "they are too young. We have just implemented the immortal child rule."

"They are but my age," she protested, but she knew he was right. Having seen how the two younger children wrestled on the ground, she knew that if they got angry, whole cities could be demolished.

"Soon, my precious," Aro whispered. "Soon they will join us."

* * *

They say that others can't force you to feel pain.

They say that being robbed of feeling is the worst robbery of all.

But how can we even truly feel, if our hearts stopped working?

Chew on that.

Why should we care about your pain, if we have so much to gain?

And so much to lose, some may say, but what can there be to lose?

A soul?

We have none.

Our souls died long ago, as well as our humanity and our empathy and our sympathy.

We serve ourselves.

No one else.

This is our story, the one that tells of how three children grew in a time of relative ease. We don't have devices, or those applications and games. We found our own ways to amuse ourselves.

But pain is universal. We felt the worst pain.

So why should yours make us feel as bad as you think we should?

Only those with sympathy can truly know.

Too bad we don't have any.


	3. Prologue: Visited

**Thank you to manielle and Seras196 for reviewing! In response to both, I don't think [Isa]bella will be paired to anyone yet. She is most definitely not going to be paired to Edward, as he will become an integral part later with a different mate, but I have been thinking about others. The other key pairs are probably Jane/Demetri and Alec/Renata. Also, just to let you know, I've already written almost ten chapters so far xD If you ask a question about the next chapter, I'll probably just ask you to be patient for me to upload.  
**

* * *

Have you heard the tale of the juniper tree?

Once upon a time, long ago—or not, depending on when you were turned—there was a woman, a beautiful woman, with a husband and a heart full of love, but no children.

How she yearned for a child, for a being that she made with the love she shared with her husband!

But she never got it.

And one day, under a juniper tree, she made a blood sacrifice. See, God only knows you're there when you do something drastic, even if it's just pricking your finger accidentally with a needle.

She watched her blood spill on the snow and voiced, once more, how she yearned for a child! And He finally heard, amongst the white noise of everyone's prayers in the entire damned planet, and he finally gave her one. In the night she shared with her husband, God came in and planted a seed in her womb, a seed from her husband.

And the seed sprouted, and she gave birth to a boy that was white as snow, but red as blood, for that was what God remembered from that day.

And then the woman died of happiness. They usually do.

And the man remarried. And his stepmother was a shrewd woman. She didn't need God's blessing to make a child with the man: she had a fair-haired, light-hearted daughter.

You can guess how the story goes. The woman wants her daughter to have everything, she plans to murder the son.

But this time, she actually does.

Granted, she doesn't do so on purpose. Her daughter runs in, asking for the fruit of an apple tree, and she decides to wait for her stepson to return first. She sets up the chest of apples so that the son must stick his head in himself and choose his own fruit. She walks in and the demon inside her, just like the demon in all of us, whispers in her ear, and she listens, and throws the trunk lid down on top of his neck, and his head comes off into the apples, and I guess that is why apples are red.

That's not the moral of the story; that's just my interpretation.

She ties his head up in a kerchief and props it up on his body, and makes her daughter believe that she killed him. And the loving mother cooks her son up in a stew and feeds it to her husband, all while her daughter is watching. And the daughter takes the bones out to the juniper tree, and by some witchcraft, he turns into a bird.

It wasn't our doing, I swear.

And the bird flies about, and gets a golden chain and red shoes and a whetting stone from the village locals. And he comes back home, somehow carrying all three, and he calls out to the family. He drops the chain, _whhooooo!_, onto his father's neck, and drops the shoes, _wheeeeeee!_, in front of his sister, and drops the stone, _whooooo—PLOP!_, onto his stepmother's body. And by some magic, he gets turned back into a human at the stepmother's death, and his father and sister and he all celebrate by going inside.

Can you tell me what's wrong here?

You can?

That means you still have a conscience.

We'll have to rid you of that.

* * *

Isabella dragged her siblings back to the village. They had rambunctiously played in the clearing, scattering wood everywhere, and now she was returning rather late and they were still fooling around. "Alec, Jane!" she snapped at them. "We have to get home before dark." The two twins gave her mutinous looks, but seeing the genuine anger in her eyes, they quieted down and murmured apologies.

Upon returning to the village, Isabella chose the sticks that she and her siblings would use for the night. She took the remaining wood and ventured out to the streets. She knocked on doors and offered the firewood, and received barley and vegetables in response. At one house, she even received a precious bag of almonds that she took with tears in her eyes, tears of joy and gratitude. The villagers loved to treat her with these things, for she did not know just how much she deserved the goods herself.

Isabella had only three sticks left when she began to trudge home. By that time, the sun had set and twilight descended across the land. _The time when the sun dies for the day and the moon comes out to play,_ Isabella pondered. The folk rhyme was an odd one, one that only the people of her specific village knew, but she heeded it well. The moon was never a good omen to her; her mother had stared at it with hunger, watching the passing times.

The girl heard the whisper of feet behind her and whipped around, trembling. She saw nothing. Shadows began to creep along the floor, and in her bewildered eyes, they reached towards her. Their rapacious fingers drew nearer and nearer. She suppressed a panicked scream and turned back around, walking quickly and purposefully back home.

Behind her, two cloaked figures followed. One had a cloak the color of the darkening twilight sky, the other a cloak of near black. "Chelsea," the first rumbled; it was a man with the same crimson eyes as the girl Sulpicia from earlier. The smaller figure glanced at him. "Afton, that was them," she said offhandedly. "Or, at least, one of them."

"Who is she bound to? Who would care if she died?" he asked her. Chelsea closed her eyes. Unlike her companion, her irises were beginning to turn black. They were currently a glowing burgundy, not nearly as potent as Afton's. She reopened them, exposing their luminescence to the waning light. "No one. She is bound tightly to her siblings and only superficially to the villagers in this town," she responded.

Afton chuckled. "And I assume that the siblings are what is stopping Aro right now," he said, a statement more than a question.

Chelsea nodded in agreement. Afton stretched his shoulders out discreetly, trying to hide his skin from the light. "Well then, our work is complete," he said with a sigh. Chelsea nodded again and the two vanished into the night.

Meanwhile, in the house, Jane and Alec were fighting over the almonds. "Can't I have one now, Jane?" Alec practically begged, trying to take one of the three in Jane's palm. She snatched her hand away, closing her fist around them, and glowered right back. "No, Alec! Didn't Isa give you any to eat?" she growled right back. Isabella sighed and said, "Jane, I told you to share."

Jane pouted and reluctantly gave Alec two of the nuts; Alec thanked his twin and hugged her, much to her chagrin. Isabella chuckled at the twins' relationship.

There was a knock at the door. Isabella glanced at it, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Who is it?" she called out.

There was no response.

"Hello?"

She opened the door to see a man standing there. He wore a cloak that blended into the pitch-black night. He looked about nineteen and stood stock still in the doorway. Isabella immediately felt that something was quite wrong with the situation. She immediately became suspicious.

"Jane, Alec," she called out, her gaze never leaving the stranger's. "It's time you slept."

"Isa! We're not tired, right Alec?" Jane whined in response.

Isabella finally broke her stare to glare at her sister. "Do it. Now, Jane," she responded. The female twin sighed dramatically before dragging her brother to a pile of blankets in front of the makeshift fireplace they had.

Isabella quietly stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She stared into the stranger's eyes again; this was a practically impossible task for her, given that he was at least a foot taller. He immediately broke into a grin, despite his previous mournful expression.

"Bonjour, ma chérie," (Hello, my dear)he crooned. She raised an eyebrow. "Excusez-moi, monsieur, mais est-ce que vous êtes un noble?" (Excuse me, sir, but are you a noble?) she responded.

The man laughed out loud for the first time in a long time. His laughter was like chimes ringing, but Isabella was immediately put on guard. "Parce que," she tried again, "il y a personne ici qui parle le français, sauf le clergé. Le français est la langue des nobles, et pas celle des paysans comme nous" (Because…no one speaks French here, except for the clergy. French is a language for nobles, not for peasants like us.)

The man shook his head. "Non, nous ne sommes pas des nobles," (No, we're not nobles) the man responded. "Nous sommes des simples voyageurs à la recherche des...amis." (We are simple travelers that are searching for... friends.)

Isabella was still rather suspicious. She made a slight bow. "Nobles ou pas," (Nobles or not) she said, "je ne vous veux pas ici auprès de mon frère et ma sœur. Je suis désolée mais je voudrais que vous vous en allez, Monsieur." (I don't want you here, near my brother and my sister. Sorry, but leave, sir.) With that, she bowed her head slightly before reentering the hut, still wondering about the stranger's odd cherry-colored eyes.

The man blinked after the girl had closed the door in his face. He stood at the doorway awkwardly for a moment more before moving so swiftly away that the neighbors swore a sudden gust of wind picked up. He rejoined his companions in the woods, where they could speak Latin in peace and not worry about small girls telling them off for wandering so close to human civilization.

Aro's eyes darted up when he heard Marcus approach. "Brother," Aro called out. "What have you learned?"

Marcus's eyes flashed in amusement, much to Aro's shock. "Not what you wanted to, brother," he responded, laughing to himself yet again.

Aro's eyebrows furrowed. "What is the matter?" He quickly grabbed Marcus's hand, amid Marcus's protests. Aro saw the golden bond between the three children; he saw the love and protection that the eldest harbored for her siblings and the ferocity of her intent to protect them. He saw the connection between the twins. He saw how they viewed the older girl as a beacon of safety; when she was around, they were safe and content. He saw the twins pout at their sister's commands, but he also saw the flicker of gratitude in the girl's eyes. She did not want to deal with Marcus, Aro realized, and she was glad when their sister sent them away.

He withdrew his hand. Marcus snatched his away, giving Aro a scathing look before wandering off, his eyes clouding and becoming guarded.

Aro wanted the children under his control. The powers that they would have…

He wasn't a senser. He didn't know of these things. But he could somehow understand that the twins had some odd aura about them; he had heard in the village of how they were supernatural, the boy almost an angel, the girl almost a devil. He heard that if a person helped a twin, they would find themselves somehow rewarded, but if they harmed one, they would find both an angry older sibling and misfortune tailing them.

He had even learned their names. Jane. Alexander. Isabella. Such beautiful names, ones that reminded him of the Italy he was forced to leave.

Yes, these children would help him. They would somehow be the secret weapons that he used to wrest his home back, as well as his rule. Aro smirked at no one before vanishing in the same direction that Marcus had only moments before.

* * *

**Before you ask, I do know my way around basic French (I've been taking classes for about three years), so I didn't really use Google Translate or anything. However, if there are some mistakes, please let me know. I'm not perfect.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Shriayle**


	4. Prologue: Burning

**Thanks for all the support, everyone :)**

* * *

More years passed. Isabella had grown into her womanhood; she was a dazzling seventeen years old, with waist-length mahogany hair and sparkling brown eyes. She was still as tender-hearted as she had been when she was twelve, but had become more thoughtful and patient, especially with her siblings.

The twins were now fifteen. Jane had started to cut her hair as short as she could ever since cows attempted to graze on her head, much to Alec's amusement. Every moon or so, Isabella would take out a razor and carefully cut Jane's hair until it was as short as Alec's, sometimes even shorter. Jane had mellowed out a bit, but still had a small sadistic streak, especially when it came to insects. Isabella had been finding dismembered insect bits across the front yard, and she really didn't want to know.

Alec was still just as thoughtful, but he had developed a sarcastic tongue to combat Jane's odd naiveté. His hair had grown a shade darker than Jane's so that it was somewhat of a blend of both of his sisters' hair colors. Both twins still had their wide, blue eyes, eyes that didn't match Isabella's at all.

The children thrived and grew, and they became not-so-much children. Isabella became the twins' maternal figure, as well as their older sister. Jane became the epitome of mischief and Alec the epitome of calm. The villagers watched them grow. They watched their bond grow. They noticed how whenever Jane was angered, something seemed to go wrong. Another villager might somehow break a limb or stab themselves on their pitchforks. When Alec was angered, which happened far less, far worse things happened. People would slice their leg and not notice until they got home, blood dripping all the way from the fields. Once, a woman didn't notice until too late that what she had thought was an affectionate nudge from her cow had actually pierced her side. She died a few days later of blood loss.

The villagers just kept whispering about it, about how their abilities were almost like witchcraft. The great Frank leader Charlemagne had begun to hunt the witches in his land, the villagers discussed, so they could just do the same. The twins were dangerous, they said, and they had to be punished. The whispers grew. They opted to introduce them to hell soon.

The stakes were raised. The kindling gathered. Isabella even had a part in this scheme without knowing it; she had gathered wood and given it to the villagers, who had kept it, almost guiltily, for this morbid purpose.

The coven in the woods saw these preparations with worry. They wanted Jane and Alec and Isabella for themselves, and fire was the one thing that could pierce their diamond-hard skin and cause them any sort of bodily harm. Jane and Alec weren't old enough, or discreet enough, to disappear into the woods one day and never return, assumed to have run away from life in the village. And Isabella wasn't the type of person to do that either.

So they waited and watched. They watched the stakes. They watched the children. They watched the villagers.

Until the fateful day came, a stormy one, with rain threatening the flames. Isabella had brought Jane and Alec out to the forest yet again to gather more wood for more food; the twins were growing so fast that they needed more nourishment than Isabella had anticipated. They returned happily, singing a song as they went, whistling the parts that they couldn't play on an imaginary instrument.

The villagers surrounded them as soon as they left the woods. A man grabbed Jane and Alec and forced their arms behind their backs. Isabella was pushed away roughly.

"Ow! Get off," Jane screeched, wrestling with her captor. Alec was silent as he frantically tried to slip loose. The two men sneered and just held on tighter.

"Shut it, _witch_," one snarled at Jane, twisting her arms even tighter. She let out a shriek of pain.

"Don't touch my sister like that," Alec growled, headbutting the man and earning the same punishment for himself. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he bit his lip to hold back an unearthly scream.

"Please! Don't!" Isabella begged from the side of the crowd, where she was jostled away mercilessly. She sobbed out as she saw her siblings being born away, frantically calling for her help. She tripped on a rock; she landed face first into the ground. Heaving with tears, Isabella pushed herself off and stumbled almost drunkenly after the crowd, pushing through bodies towards the twins.

She felt herself being held back. She whipped around, eyes wild, to see a shocked clergyman. "Please, miss Isabella," he murmured, pulling her gently away, "don't make this harder than it should be."

She looked at him in disgust. "What do you mean," she growled out.

He looked at her sadly. "They are to be burned, just as they will be in Hell for their actions. The witchcraft they perform is not of this world, and not of Heaven," he replied.

Her eyes widened with shock, and she tried to run after the crowd for her siblings once more. "Miss Isabella!" the clergyman whispered out, trying to restrain her. She turned once more and kicked him between the legs. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain. She spat on his body, much to the shock of the other villagers around them.

"Coward!" she screeched at him. "Coward, and disgrace to God! If you are the spiritual leader for us all, then everyone in this godforsaken village will be brought to Hell and burned! Trying to punish children, mere _children_, for what they cannot control!" She kicked him once more before running away to find her siblings. She ran barefoot, rocks cutting into her feet, and as she ran, she bled. The bloody footprints led the coven later on.

Meanwhile, Jane and Alec had been tied up and prepared for the stake. Jane was still fighting, but Alec had begun to pray, asking His help in ending the pain quickly.

A match was struck. The kindling was placed, the wood arranged ceremoniously. A man threw the flame. And soon, the entire structure was on fire.

Jane screamed. The pain filled her entire body, her small stature. Her dress caught fire, and she frantically shook whatever body part was closest to get rid of it. She breathed in the wooden smoke, coughing, wheezing, shrieking. The pain was simply too much for her to bear. It felt as though the entire village had decided to smite her with the Lord's sword collection, slashing her legs, letting the blood run down, before the skies opened up and rained poison all over her. All that she could think about was the pain. She wondered if this is what the ants felt, all those years ago, and she sobbed out an incoherent apology to them.

Next to her, Alec was still praying. He felt numb to the pain; the pain that he heard his sister suffer from. He felt guilty that he was somehow protected by it, but he was still relieved. He begged God to make this happen faster for the both of them. The smoke caused him to cough violently from time to time, but besides those interruptions, he found himself continuing to whisper under his breath for the deity to end his life as soon as He could.

Isabella ran to the square just as the skies had opened up. Both twins looked unconscious now; Jane was still crying when she thought she saw a brown-haired apparition. "Mama?" she choked out, staring at the woman. Isabella ran straight into the flames, feet bleeding and dress torn, hair tangled and eyes wild. "Jane!" she gasped out, beginning to try and untie the ropes that bound her sister to the burned pole. Jane blinked but couldn't see what was going on; the smoke had caused her eyes to swell, somehow.

"Help us, Isa," she pleaded. Isabella felt the flames reawaken under her and she felt her dress catch on fire, but she didn't care, as long as her siblings were okay. She tore the last vestige of rope from Jane, and she finally got Alec down as well. The three were too tired to move afterwards; they watched as the rain battled the flames, seemingly to no avail, and all three curled up there on the ground, clothes still smoking and slowly burning, minds shutting down from the smoke that was everywhere. They knew nothing else.

* * *

You may think this is it. That this must be the end. That that was the final pain we felt.

Hell no, it wasn't. It wasn't the worst. It wasn't the last.

At least, so far. We've felt worse pain now.

But no human can survive what we had to.

Even us.

So I think you can understand where we are going with this.

This little interlude here? With our retelling of our favorite fairy tale, and our musings?

They end now.

Because now, this is where our real lives begin.

This is where we gain father figures, not just a mother figure.

This is where we learn what a real family is.

It just takes eternity for us to do so.

Hope you've enjoyed our history.

This is where the actual story starts.

* * *

**Confused? I would understand why, haha. This was all a prologue arc~ The story really starts next chapter. Thanks for reading so far, and keep on keeping on :) ~Shriayle**


	5. Reawakening: Reborn from Ashes

**Hello there! Here begins the "REAWAKENING" Arc: basically, this is the first major plotline. It will follow the three siblings as they get their powers and manage to completely master them (sort of). Also, the other members of the guard will be coming in. There will be a few OCs, and I hope you won't mind a bit of deviation from the storyline that Stephenie Meyer gave us.**

**Also, since I've been forgetting: The basic premise of Isabella, Jane, Alec, the Volturi, the Romanians, and any seemingly recognizable features of this universe do not belong to me. Their personalities somewhat belong to me, and the plot does.**

* * *

Isabella awoke to the smell of damp soil and leaves. She did not move. She could not move. Every part of her body tingled with pain and fatigue. She heard a faint whimper and, with a herculean effort, turned her head.

Jane, her little angel, was lying in the fetal position, crying from the pain. Pain from the burns that covered her body, pain from the ligament marks on her wrists, pain that caused the blood to ooze out of the wounds that covered her body. Alec lay next to her, silent and stoic as always, but he too was struggling.

Isabella coughed. Her throat felt dry from the smoke. She moved her head back with a pained grunt before staring at the sky through the trees. She didn't remember running into the forest. All she remembered was curling up in a bed of flames, watching the smoke dance and weave around her.

Suddenly, a pale figure appeared in her peripheral vision. She didn't move again; her neck was already in too much pain. The figure hummed; Isabella realized that she recognized the voice.

"M-monsieur?" she whispered out. The man started, or at least jumped slightly, and somehow was at her side in the next second. He stared down at her, cutting off the light, but she saw every detail of his face, from the impossibly white skin to the glowing red eyes.

"Hush, girl," he said back to her, disappearing from her line of sight. She heard rustling and realized that he had stood back up. She didn't register that he spoke to her in her mother-tongue.

"P-pourquoi sommes nous ici?" (Why are we here?) she choked out. He hushed her again. "Don't go through so much of an effort to speak to me in a foreign language," he scolded gently before picking her up. She heard him mumble to the wind, too fast and too soft for her to pick up the individual words.

The effect of his odd whispering was immediate. Two more figures, one female and the other male, had appeared, both wearing cloaks that resembled the stranger's pitch black one. She noted the female's similarly dark cloak and the male's ever so slightly lighter one. The male was bulkier, much bulkier than the stranger, and the female had light brown hair, similar to Alec's. The three travelled impossibly fast through the trees while holding the children.

"Jane, Alec," Isabella whispered again, trying and failing to reach out and stroke their hair. The man holding her just glanced down and somehow, impossibly, picked up his speed. The others with him mirrored his movement.

Just as suddenly, they stopped. Isabella let out an involuntary grunt as the cold wind that had numbed her wounds went away and her body was suddenly attacked by all of the pain that the burns caused. Jane and Alec weren't doing much better in the others' arms.

Another man approached Isabella in the first man's arms. He was flanked by two women and yet another man. "Is this them?" the new one demanded of the other. The other man, a blond with bored crimson irises, glanced over to Isabella and her siblings. "Yes, Aro, this is them," he said, sighing loudly. "Can I leave now?"

The man with black hair, Aro, snarled at the blond man. "Now listen here, _George_," he growled. The blond flinched back. "I don't particularly care that the humans think that you are Astaroth, for I know that I am far more fearsome. I asked you to keep an eye on these children, and you bring them to me marred."

"I-I was feeding, my lord," George stammered out, all bravado gone. Aro's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure," he muttered, turning back to Isabella and leaning over to her. He seemed to be in his twenties, with sparkling ruby eyes and pale skin that seemed to glimmer in the lighting of the forest. Isabella was slightly entranced just by the quality of his skin.

"I'm sorry, dear," Aro whispered solemnly before bending away from her face. He seemed to be leaning towards her neck—a single prick of pain—and she knew nothing more but the fire raging in her veins.

Jane watched as this odd man bent over her sister and seemed to _bite_ Isabella on the neck, and then on the wrists. She watched as Isabella writhed in pain, shrieking out, pleading for death to come. Jane felt nothing but pure hatred for the man who caused her sister such harm. She twisted and bucked in her captor's arms, but the woman that held her back seemed to be made of marble.

"ISABELLA!" Jane shrieked. Alec was crying alongside her, not making as much of an effort, but calling out all the same. The odd man, Aro or something, whipped around impossibly fast. He seemed to grin to himself, the sadist. _Takes one to know one,_ Jane thought to herself grimly.

"What did you do to our sister?" Alec demanded, beginning to put up a fight. The bulky man holding him held him too strongly for his efforts to really mean anything.

"Why, don't you want to be like her, too?" the man said. Without giving them a moment even for confusion, he suddenly lunged for Jane and bit her neck also. Jane fell to the ground, the woman holding her back having let go. She collapsed on the ground with spasms and choked screeches.

Alec tried to fight to get away, or maybe to get to his sisters. "You bastard!" he howled. "You hellspawn! Whoreson!" He screamed and fought and cursed as Aro slowly approached him. Aro just raised an eyebrow, and the man holding the boy just looked at his master exasperatedly. Aro leaned forward a bit, it seemed.

Only a moment later, Alec found Aro injecting his venom into his bloodstream. He felt the pain that his sisters felt.

It was an odd, unearthly pain. All three siblings would have gladly gotten burned at the stake a hundred times over, if only they could avoid this searing madness. Alec thought blindly that this man must be Satan, and that he had damned all three to Hell. _Why, Father?_ he moaned inwardly, fighting the urge to physically react to the pain, an urge that was, in the end, released.

All three siblings had to withstand the pain of breaking every limb, being thrown off of the tallest cliff, being trampled by the strongest oxen, being burned in Hell, and being bitten by a thousand of the most poisonous snakes all at once. Briefly, all three saw hallucinations.

Isabella saw her siblings crying, searching blindly for her. _I'm here!_ she screamed at them mentally, trying to move towards them, but her limbs wouldn't respond, and the phantom Jane and Alec wandered off, tears streaming down their cheeks, shouting out_ Isa! Where are you? Can't you hear us?_ She let out another shriek of agony before succumbing to the pain again.

Jane saw a giant piece of glass, similar to the one she had used to fry insects. She saw it glint in the sunlight, and then all of a sudden her entire body was on fire. She was smoking; the pain was far more intense than she would have thought. She felt her blood boil, her veins rupture, and the water leaving her body as she writhed around under the hallucination's effect.

After what seemed like an eternity, Alec didn't see anything. All he saw was blackness. He felt as though a giant boulder was slowly squeezing his body, depriving him of air and forcing him to breathe less and less. He gasped out, tried to whisper for help, for death, for _anything_, but no one responded. No one tried to rid him of the suffocation. Tears ran down his cheeks at the effort to forget the pain, to just let Death take him now, no matter if it was to Heaven or to Hell.

Aro looked down, satisfied at his work. The siblings would soon be loyal only to him, and they would all take down the Romanian coven. All was going to plan. He reached out and almost tenderly took Isabella's hand.

Her mind was blank. He could not read anything. Aro let go and staggered back. Never before had any creature, human or vampire, been able to resist his gift. Mind racing, he stumbled forward and stroked Jane's cheek. Instantly, her entire life sprang forth into his mind: chasing her twin around the small hut they lived in, gathering wood, falling asleep to Isabella's quiet singing. He tried Alec as well and got the same result.

_Interesting…_ Aro tried to read Isabella's mind again. Nothing.

Aro felt himself laughing under his breath, but he wasn't able to contain himself for long. His cackling ripped through the previous silence, worrying the other vampires.

"Aro, dear?" Sulpicia asked, her eyes glinting with concern. Aro clasped his mouth with his hand, still chuckling to himself.

"What wondrous powers!" he proclaimed out loud. Sulpicia drew her head back with a startled expression. She looked like a bird at a sudden noise, Aro noticed, all fluffed up and borderline indignant.

Caius, in all of his bitterness, looked intrigued. He bent over the boy, _Alec_, the younger girl had called him in her thoughts. Caius's expression didn't change as he stood up and walked off.

Marcus had already seemed to claim the girl Aro couldn't read. He was watching her fight the venom racing through her system.

"The pieces are in place," Aro breathed to himself, Sulpicia wrapped around one of his arms.

"Checkmate."

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**For those of you curious about George, I didn't make him up. Just look for him on the Wiki or something.**

**...this is rather short. My apologies.**

**Again with the French. Second verse, same as the first.**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	6. Reawakening: Reunion and Discovery

**Thank you for your kind reviews :D I should probably respond to a few of them here just to make sure everyone's up to speed.**

**LVB (Guest): Thank you for your long review! I do much prefer them to shorter ones, but I welcome all reviews anyways. All of your praise really made my day ^_^ Also, if you see any spelling or grammar errors, please just let me know. I hate them, but I usually type these up at midnight when my vision's shot and I miss a few.  
**

**Edna (Guest): Glad you enjoy it!**

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Isabella awoke to the sparkling dust motes and leaf grains floating around in the air above her. Light shone in through a roof of leaves and reflected off of every single one; she could see the light entering through the leaves and off of the dust, shining everywhere. She gasped softly, in wonder, and the dust was jerked around suddenly and so much of the wonderful dust entered her mouth.

Isabella wasn't sure what to make of her surroundings. The pain she had felt, with her heart beating faster than the sparrow's wings, was all gone with the final beat. She timidly raised two fingers to her neck; nothing responded. She was, in essence, an animated corpse.

She supposed that she should have been worried by that. All she felt was an outright curiosity and a yearning to see another person.

The man she had seen at the village, years ago, the one that had knocked on her doorstep, appeared from the forest. Despite having seen him before, it was still a shock to see him, looking as young as the first time she had met him.

He bowed slightly to her. "Greetings, young one," he said. This time, she noticed that he wasn't speaking in French.

"If you know a bit of English, why did you insist on speaking in French?" she asked. Her own voice made her stop talking; it sounded like the birds' chirping in the morning, like the small silver bells that the villagers heard whenever the lord rode by.

He chuckled. "It was all I knew at the time," he replied. His voice was soft, velvety; every single detail about him burst out to her even more than it had when she was human (for she assumed she was no longer human). His skin was sparkling ever so slightly in the light, shimmering, almost, and his eyes glowed red with an inner light. The cape he wore was pitch black, darker than the darkest night sky, and underneath, he wore a nobleman's clothes.

"So you were a noble," she murmured. He somehow heard her and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I tell you I wasn't?" he asked. "Your clothes tell me otherwise, sir," she shot back.

He held his head back and laughed. "Well, these are, ah, recent acquisitions. But I assume that these questions can wait, for your thirst must be most potent." Isabella hadn't noticed the dryness in her throat until the beautiful stranger had mentioned it; now, all she could think of was whetting the near hunger that she felt within her neck.

The stranger led her back towards the village and had her wait; pretty soon, the most tantalizing smell drifted by them. Isabella glanced back towards the stranger for a single second; he nodded and gestured for her to go. She turned back around and crouched.

The clergyman was walking by, all alone. He didn't know why he ventured towards the forest, only that something drew him, something that needed to be cleansed by God's hands. She leaped out gracefully, simultaneously breaking his neck and sinking her fangs into his throat. His blood sprayed her, but she paid it no mind, dragging the still bleeding corpse back into the forest. She fed on his essence, relishing the warmth.

All too soon, he was dry. She staggered backwards, eyes wide. She had just killed a clergyman. "Oh Father," she breathed, taking another step back. The stranger appeared in front of her the way he always seemed to. She didn't truly notice.

"Next time, wait for the blood to settle before drinking," he recommended, eying her ruined clothes. She raised her eyes towards him.

"I-is that all you can say?!" she shrieked. "I killed one of God's servants!"

"Good thing, too," the stranger said nonchalantly, kicking the corpse almost casually. "It's not like God would even accept our lot."

"What do you mean?"

The stranger cocked an eyebrow at her again. "Why, we're hellspawn. Demons. Devils. Creatures of the shadows, blood drinkers. We have many names, Isabella, but the most common is _vampire_. You aren't of God's realm anymore, my dear, but of Hekate's." With that final note, he turned back around and gestured for her to follow. Not knowing what else she could do, she obliged.

"How is it that you know my name but I don't know yours?" She asked him.

"Why, my dear girl," he responded, "my brother found out upon touching your dear sister's cheek. And my name is Marcus."

She paid no heed to his feeble introduction. "My sister. Jane. Alec. How are they? Are they alright?" she babbled on, desperate to know about the siblings she loved so much.

"They are fine," Marcus replied broadly. He paused before wrinkling his nose a bit. "Although she has a bit of a violent streak. Odd that Caius doesn't like her any more than he does your brother."

"Can I see them?" Isabella pestered.

Marcus shrugged. "You have too strong a bond to them not to." With this final, cryptic statement, he grabbed her wrist. "This is a bit disorienting the first time," he warned. She didn't have any time to react before he ran.

The trees seemed to fly by in a meaningless blur. Branches that should have hit Isabella in the face somehow evaded her at the last second. Her eyes, which were now as red as her companion's, though she didn't know it yet, didn't need to blink the dust out, for they contained enough venom to disintegrate the dirt before it could harm her eyes.

Marcus suddenly stopped. Isabella wasn't really unbalanced, but she did feel the unpleasant sensation of the world catching back up to her. She gasped again upon seeing the two figures in front of her; one was the man that had plunged her into this world. The other was her sister.

Jane spun around. Her petite stature was somehow ever so slightly more childlike; she hadn't developed too much, but she was still recognizably in the stage in between child and adult. Her eyes grew alight with pure joy and she raced off towards Isabella. The older girl had just enough time to open her arms when Jane collided into her, sending them both to the ground. Jane seemed to be crying openly, which Isabella had never seen her do, tears or no (because the younger girl couldn't seem to produce any tears).

Isabella glanced up at the man that had been standing beside her. His black hair complemented his cape almost too perfectly; there was only a minute difference in the shades, one that human eyes would not have even noticed. His eyes glowed red, just as her companion's. This thought reminded her of the man standing beside her. He was ever so slightly in a defensive position.

The man noticed the other's position and frowned. "Stand down, Marcus," he ordered with a feathery, breezy voice. Marcus growled once before shifting back to a much more casual position, though his face showed more hatred than anything. The man smiled pleasantly as though they had all gathered to share a bit of food and he chuckled to himself. Jane looked uncomfortable; she had separated from Isabella and was glancing at the man behind her. The man looked at Isabella once again.

"Ah, my dear Isabella," he breathed. The aforementioned vampire felt exasperated. "If you excuse me, sir," she said, "I would like to know your name before you call me by even just mine, and I don't appreciate the addition of 'my dear.' Isabella is just fine."

The man blinked before breaking out into a smile. "But of course, young one. I am Aro, leader of the Volturi coven."

"Volturi? Isn't that the name of the noble family in Volterra?" Isabella murmured. Her eyes flashed up at him and she wrapped a protective arm around Jane's shoulders. "Why are you in England, sir?"

"Please, just call me Aro." The man, Aro, stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there's a great deal of political information that goes into that. But, Isabella, do you know who I am?"

The brunette was confused. Jane looked slightly frightened.

"I am your creator, Isabella," Aro said, responding to his own question. His brow darkened ever so slightly. "Therefore, I appreciate your cooperation. You are to call me Master, just as some of the others do. Also, you are not to question me." As Isabella wondered why he wanted to be called Aro in one second and Master in the next, a

female appeared by Aro's side; she stared directly into Isabella's eyes.

Isabella somehow felt the woman's power. She was reaching a tendril over to the siblings, trying to ensnare them in her trap. Isabella's arm around Jane tightened and she seethed inwardly. There was an odd buildup inside of her, as though she was holding a piece of string too firmly between her hands and it was about to break. She released the tension, and the tendril was stopped. The female's eyes widened; she tried again, this time with tendrils towards Jane only.

"Not my sister, whore," Isabella snarled, and once again released some form of energy. She crouched protectively in front of Jane, who was staring at the female with murderous intent.

"You said you would protect us, that we didn't need her, Master Aro," Jane said with a high-pitched voice. Isabella offhandedly marveled at her sister's twinkling voice; it sounded like the voice of the stars.

"I did indeed…" Aro said, his words trailing off as he stared in wonder at Isabella. "However, we always need a little bit of reassurance, my dear Jane."

Jane showed her teeth in an impressive growl for a girl who hadn't yet reached five feet. "You will leave us ALONE!" A burst of energy released itself from her; immediately the female was curled up on the ground, screaming in agony.

"Chelsea!" A male ran out of nowhere, as if he had been invisible, and tried to stop the woman's thrashing. Isabella looked coldly on at the scene; Jane was smiling viciously.

The man held onto the woman helplessly; he fixed his wild eyes onto Jane. "You-!" He lumbered forward, snarling, trying to reach Jane as revenge for his incapacitated mate.

He fell, screaming in pain, as he received the same treatment that Chelsea had. He felt his bones catch on fire, his very flesh seem to melt off of his body. He felt his hands strain against bonds, he felt the fire grazing his skin in a macabre gentleness.

"Jane," Isabella murmured. She had reached her limit; this was far too much. Jane just shook her head; they all deserved it, for trying to take her Isa away from her and bind her to that man that caused all of them such pain.

"Jane!" Isabella snapped. Jane looked at her with the expression of a kicked puppy before sulkily ceasing the attack.

Aro had just looked on with lust in his eyes. "Such talent," he breathed.

Isabella finally noticed. "Jane, where's Alec?" she asked, beginning to panic. She couldn't lose her brother, her sweet, innocent brother, to anything, not yet.

"The other man took him away, I think, before we were reborn," Jane responded. Isabella didn't have any idea what her sister meant until Marcus seemed to reawaken. He had been amused by the turn of events, but now, he heard his brother approach. "Caius is coming. He will be…shockingly happy that you haven't yet tamed yours," he drawled to Aro. Aro scowled at him. "Shut it, brother," Aro muttered.

"What? The young one won't listen to him?" Another man, seemingly so much older than Aro and Marcus, swept up, smirking. Alec was following him. The new vampire's eyes swept the scene casually, but he froze upon seeing Jane and Isabella. "Isa? Jane?" he whispered. He glanced desperately at Caius. "Master, may I..?"

"Yes, go on," Caius said, sweeping his hand in a dismissive gesture towards the two girls. Alec immediately ran off and leaped at his siblings. All three of them hugged and cried at the reunion.

Aro saw how Jane was so happy now, so innocent seeming, and then he remembered the pain she had caused. He saw how protective Isabella was now, and how powerful her shield was. He wasn't sure what power Alec would harness, but he knew that this family would serve him, if only they _listened_.

Caius felt Aro's internal turmoil. He gave Marcus a wry grin; the other vampire returned the gesture. Caius was somewhat surprised; it was the first time since Didyme's unfortunate demise that Marcus had seemed so in tuned with the environment.

"When do you think, brother?" Caius asked in a clipped tone.

"Soon, Caius," Aro responded, lost in thought. "We need to train them. We need to ensure that they will serve us. We need to make sure that their powers aren't too much to handle yet."

"Give them more time," Marcus said. The other two looked at him in shock; he hadn't been so involved for centuries. "They need to learn to trust us."

"That may take a while, if Aro's going to be the incorrigible soul I know he is," Caius muttered darkly.

Aro just pursed his lips and watched the siblings talk quietly and compare their skills. Time. That was all he really needed. All he needed before he swept the Romanians away from his beloved Italy and was able to rule again.

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**Thanks for reading! Again, if you see any errors, please let me know so I can fix them.  
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	7. Reawakening: All is Well

**Replies:**

**Guest and Jamma (Guest): I'm so happy you're enjoying this story :)**

**ArabellaWhitlock: There is a sort of bond between the three kings and the three siblings; Jane serves Aro, Alec serves Caius, and Isabella serves Marcus. It's just my interpretation, based on the facts that Jane always listened to Aro and Alec seemed like a good foil to Caius's violent nature.**

**Here's the actual story for the rest of you~**

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Years passed. Jane and Alec and Isabella had never been good with time; they just saw the sun rise and set. Now, time was meaningless; ever since they learned that they would never need to worry about time's passage, they mocked the sun's meaningless pathway across the sky. They watched their skin glitter in the sun's light, marveling at the beauty of it.

Alec had found his gift. His blind faith had been magnified; the numbness that he insisted God gave him was magnified and he soon was able to harness its power. Jane's piercing pain was fine-tuned to the point where she could control just how much she wanted to see her victims writhe, although Isabella noticed that she often just attacked at the highest power possible. Isabella's protection was powerful enough to block her siblings' abilities as well as protect them from others' mental barrages. She was able to detect other vampires' shielding abilities; what to do with this information, she had no idea.

The three siblings would not let Chelsea near them. They glared at her whenever she tried; Isabella would always murmur a soft warning to Jane, reminding her that Aro would not be pleased if the young girl tried to attack the other vampire. Alec was the only one who could truly calm Jane down; all he had to do was pat her shoulder and she relaxed.

Isabella was wandering the woods in search of new prey; the village that Aro had led them too was becoming frightened, and no one would venture out of the perimeter at night (or in the daylight, for that matter). The vampires were growing thirsty, and Isabella wasn't about to sit and wait for night time to try to penetrate the village itself.

She soon came across a small child; the boy's eyes widened and he screamed bloody murder. Isabella sighed before staring at the boy. He became entranced with the potent look and slowly quieted down. She smiled at him; he seemed almost…dazzled. _Never think that about a child again, _Isabella thought grimly.

"Where's your mama?" she cooed. The boy's mouth hung open. "O-over there, miss," he whispered. She smiled at him again before guiding him back to the worried woman.

"Oh, thank you kindly, dear. I've been looking for my little Edward for far too long. Come now, let's go. Papa's going to be waiting." The two wandered off.

Isabella just shook her head. "What a queer name," she muttered to herself before running away, in search of more valid prey.

* * *

Isabella had managed to quench her thirst and arrive back to base just as Aro was demanding for her presence. She rolled her eyes; God knows what the madman wanted from her now. She acquiesced that she was fortunate he couldn't read her mind, since that thought alone could separate her head from her body.

"Aro, what is it?" she asked. The vampire whipped around and stared at her before saying, "Isabella, do you know what year it is?"

She shrugged. "Time matters not to me," she said candidly. "Why do you ask?"

"I must know if we are to leave, of course," Aro said lightly. They had been sheltering in England for far too long; the Romanians needed to know that the Italians were returning.

"You honestly think that my siblings will be strong enough to take part in your meaningless war?" Isabella asked. Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Do not put Alec and Jane in a bad situation, _master_," she said, sneering at the last word.

"Isabella," Marcus hurried forward. "Don't antagonize my brother again," he said exasperatedly.

"He deserves it," she muttered, but immediately afterwards breathed out an apology with a sniff. Aro just rolled his eyes; he had learned to accept her huffy behavior around him.

"Of course the twins aren't ready yet. They need to learn exactly how damaging their talents can be. However, there has been breaths of battle brewing, and whether we accept it or not, the Romanians will come to us." Isabella snarled at the mention of the other coven. Aro noted this seeming hatred.

"So you will test them out on skirmishes, hither and thither?" she asked, slipping back into "literary talk," as Jane so eloquently described it one day.

"Yes. Smaller battles to see how easily incapacitated vampires are; humans seem to be weaker mentally and physically," Aro explained patiently, as though talking to a small child.

"Mm. Do as you will. I don't particularly care, as long as the twins accept this." With that, Isabella walked away.

Athenodora approached her. The high-browed Greek woman admired Isabella's confidence and almost blatant arrogance towards Aro, two qualities that the women shared. In turn, Isabella relied on Athenodora's advice, although the younger vampire disliked the older's mate. Caius was just a bloodthirsty king that was grooming Alec to be his minion, it seemed, and Isabella's protective instincts wanted to tear his head off for doing so.

"I trust Aro had something, ah, interesting to say?" Athenodora purred. Isabella rolled her eyes; her companion giggled at the childish gesture. "Yes, of course. Just that the war is coming to us rather than vice versa."

Athenodora hummed quietly. "So, just the usual then?" she said, grinning and beginning to walk off. "Yep," Isabella called after her.

"That reminds me," Athenodora paused slightly, "_do_ you know what year it is?"

Isabella snorted. "Of course I do. It's 897 years after the birth of Jesus Christ, in the month of June."

Athenodora grunted at the Christian time. She herself had lost track of the years since Greece's naissance, but she knew it was centuries older than the Christians dared to think.

Isabella tried not to notice Athenodora's disgruntled reaction. "I've been a vampire for 29 years, but I haven't aged a second," she said offhandedly, closing her eyes. "I can't accept that as easily as I should."

Athenodora gave her a sympathetic look but said nothing before disappearing into the trees. Isabella stood with her eyes closed, face tilted towards the sky. She heard the breeze rustling in the trees around her. She blew out a breath, causing her hair to fly across her face, and opened her eyes. The sun was glimmering on her skin, as though she were carved out of glass and set in a noble's palace by the fireplace, but so much more beautiful than even that comparison. It was more comparable to the king's precious jewels.

Jane approached her; Isabella could smell her distinct scent, one that combined lemon, fallen leaves, and cinnamon (a delicacy that none of the siblings ever tasted and one they no longer wanted to taste). The older girl felt her sister's arms wrap around her from behind.

"Is everything alright?" Isabella twisted around and smiled at her sister's question. Even though the other vampires found Jane mildly disturbing, to Isabella she was still the little sister that hated bathing and wanted to help her gather wood. "Yes, Jane, all is well," Isabella replied. The arms disappeared from her side and Jane appeared in front of her. Her eyes, once a baby blue but now a deep red, gazed into Isabella's. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Isabella gave her a partial smile. "Yes, Jane," she repeated. Jane frowned slightly but embraced her again before disappearing.

* * *

Alec stared at the sight from Caius's side. Two vampires stood in front of them, one male and one female. The male had darker skin that glistened like burnished metal in the sun rather than sparkling; the female appeared to be German, with the telltale blonde hair and piercing crimson eyes. Her skin glittered like the rest of them.

"There are more of us?" Alec whispered to Caius. The older man gave Alec an incredulous look. "Of course there are, silly boy," he growled. "Did you think we were the entire world?" Alec shook his head obediently. "Of course," Caius grumbled again.

"State your names and your purpose," Aro called out. The two outsiders exchanged amused glances.

"I am Santiago," the male intoned, "and this is Corin. We were once members of the Brandenburg coven."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Weren't there at least five of you?"

Corin, the female, snarled slightly. "Yes, of course there were," she sneered. "They were burned. All that remains are the ashes."

Aro looked shocked, but Isabella could see from her place next to Marcus that he didn't particularly care. "Ah, really? How did that happen?" he asked.

"The Romanians tore their limbs off, stacked them high, and set the entire thing on fire, of course," Santiago responded. Caius looked morbidly interested now.

"And why are you here in England, then?" he rumbled. The two exchanged glances again.

"We wish to join your fight against the Romanians," Santiago said, raising his head. "They destroyed our lives, we wish to destroy theirs."

Aro glanced over to Chelsea, who immediately stretched out the tendrils again. The two vampires looked curious, but their expression became much more subservient in a matter of seconds. "Will you obey everything that I or my brothers tell you to do?" Aro demanded. "Will you willingly sacrifice your souls for a chance to please us?"

"Yes, master," they responded in unison. Isabella looked on with horror. She leaned over to Marcus and asked, "Are they bonded to him now?"

He slid his eyes over to meet hers and nodded minutely. She sniffed in disgust before calling her siblings to her. "Jane, Alec," she said, "let's go. We need to test out your strengths."

* * *

"No, Jane, not towards Alec!" Isabella called out. "Both of you try to hit me at the same time! I thought I told you!" She stretched her shield over her siblings again, feeling almost breathless as the invisible muscle trembled in protest against her will. Jane had insisted on the enlarged shield, just in case, but Alec was beginning to doubt whether it was necessary. "Again," she gasped out.

Jane looked doubtfully over at Isabella, but she directed her "pain," as she called it, to her sister. Isabella felt the spear of agony fly somewhat towards her before shattering on the shield.

"Very good, Jane," Isabella said, "but try to focus the pain. Aim it in one solid shape towards me."

Jane took another (unnecessary) deep breath and closed her eyes. She scrunched up her face slightly before letting out a burst of pain towards Isabella. The weapon shattered just like the first one did, but Isabella was elated.

"That was perfect, Jane!" Jane perked up at the praise. Her sister's eyes were shining, and Jane grew slightly more excited. Alec glanced towards his twin before asking, "Can I go now, then?"

Isabella chuckled. "Jane, stand back, then," she called out, redirecting her attention towards Alec. She nodded at her brother.

Alec raised a single hand to direct himself. "Alec, don't do that," Isabella called out. "You don't want your opponent to be able to guess when you will fight. You'll want at least some element of surprise."

Alec rolled his eyes. "It's not like mine is invisible like Jane's," he grumbled, but put his hand down. He stared intently at Isabella, trying to conjure up his gift.

A white, swirling mist hazily formed around Alec. It began to slowly make its way towards Isabella, who instinctively raised her shield slightly farther from her body. The mist seemed to hit some sort of wall before creeping up around the shield, accenting it.

"Okay, Alec, now take it down," Isabella called. Alec nodded before furrowing his eyebrows. The mist shimmered slightly but didn't completely disappear. "Alec?" Isabella asked haltingly.

He looked panicked. "I can't get rid of it!" he burst out, his normal calm façade breaking down. He looked at her fearfully.

Isabella gently shrank her shield back, much to Jane and Alec's dismay, but was able to walk through the mist without experiencing the blinding numbing that others did. "It's okay, Alec," she said with a sigh, patting his head. "We'll just have to try again."

They repeated the exercise, but this time, Alec seemed determined not to let his gift fly out of control again. The mist was much more transparent, but it was still shimmering in the light. Isabella could see it form around her shield again, but it faded when she commanded Alec to lower his weapon. Jane clapped giddily for her brother, and Alec looked much more relieved. Isabella was too happy to really say anything.

"Does this mean we're ready for war?" Jane asked Isabella. Immediately the older girl's expression fell. The twins watched as Isabella sighed briefly. "I don't think so," Isabella admitted. "We need to make sure you have all knowledge of your gift and how to use it."

"What does that mean?" Alec asked grumpily. Isabella gently ran her fingers through his hair; he smacked her hand away with a complaint and began to smooth it back down. "It means that Aro will want you to start testing out your gifts on others," she responded quietly.

"But we are!" Jane piped up. She pointed at Isabella. "We're testing them out on you."

"No, Jane," Isabella said. She looked at both twins intently before continuing. "He's going to want you to start testing your gifts out on people. On humans."

* * *

**DRAMATIC ENDING! This just sets up later action; sorry for the seemingly "filler" chapter. It's mostly to show off Chelsea's powers.**


	8. Reawakening: To The Land of the Sun

**Thanks for your reviews! Finals week is coming up, so I will probably not be as productive. Also I'm out of buffer chapters, so I'm going to be writing from scratch now. Sorry in advance.**

**RESPONSES:**

**Seras196: Thanks! I tried to make the fillers somewhat meaningful despite being fillers, just to keep up interest.**

**LVB (Guest): Well, this will be the last you see of this Edward, so you'll just have to wait and see :3 The mon/ma cheri/e thing was something I already knew but failed at, but most of the other things were created based around my three years of French class in high school. Also your English seems fine to me. The thing about nobles using French is a bit of trivia my European History teacher told me once, and I found it interesting enough to integrate into this story, especially because it's currently set in the Middle Ages. Also (I need to stop using this word) I used all of your corrections in the story, so thanks for that!**

* * *

Jane was enjoying the sunlight, for once. She didn't hate her life but knew it wasn't a very pleasant one. Despite her cold, seemingly sadistic exterior, she anguished when she saw her prey thrash in pain. She always tried to hide that emotion whenever she was around Aro, even if Isabella protected her mind.

Isabella. Her Isa. Her only sister, her only confidante in the entire world (except for Alec). The only one who would truly knew her for who she was. She was Jane, the little girl who hated insects so much she wanted to cause them bodily harm. The girl who was headstrong enough to challenge the other children, but stupid enough to do it without any backup. The one that Isabella had raised herself.

Jane loved Isabella; there was no doubt about it. Marcus had noted the bond that the three siblings shared, and Chelsea had confided to Jane that their bond couldn't be torn apart. Alec hadn't found this information very interesting—just one difference between the two twins. Jane couldn't stop thinking about this.

Of course, her meditation couldn't last for long. She felt a minute tap on her shoulder and leaped up from the ground, snarling.

Felix jumped back, a scared expression on his face. Unfortunately for him, Felix was usually asked to follow Jane around as she hunted. As a result, he saw her gifts first-person and had no intention of prodding her.

Jane smirked at his expression and pretended to gnash her teeth towards him. He snorted and ventured a step forward. "Jane, Master Aro wishes to speak to you."

Her smirk vanished. She let out her breath in a quick puff. _She channels her sister more every day,_ Felix thought to himself wryly.

"Why does he need me now?" Jane demanded, crossing her arms. Felix gave a nonchalant shrug. "Something about training," he said with a dismissive air. Jane harrumphed again before stalking off to find the one she was forced to call Master.

* * *

Jane stood in the clearing where she had woken up for the last time. Alec was making his way over to her; he stood rigidly next to her. He gave her a nod before standing perfectly still. Jane gave a sly smile before poking her brother.

Although he should have fallen over, had he been human, Alec merely glared at her sideways. He scoffed before taking one step away from her. Jane raised an eyebrow, and she slid next to him. Alec just moved over again; Jane fell into step beside him. Pretty soon, Alec had nearly reentered the forest with Jane right beside him.

Aro was watching them from the other side of the clearing, amusement glittering in his eyes. He chuckled before calling out, "Jane, Alec, stop fooling around, please."

The two siblings stood stock-still, but Jane just kept smirking at Alec. Alec blew out an annoyed breath. "Yes, Aro?" Jane asked faux-politely.

Aro stiffened. "Please, Jane, call me Master," he said. "I am not summoning Chelsea so I don't aggravate Isabella, but your cooperation is much appreciated."

Jane opened her mouth to retort in her usual callous manner, but Alec cut in, saying, "Of course, _Master_." He turned to his sister, who stared at him as though he had betrayed her. He probably had betrayed her, Alec thought grimly. He tried to give Jane a meaningful look. "We don't wish our sister any harm." Jane finally understood his implications.

"Why, of course you don't," Aro said smoothly. His face slid back into a tranquil smile that Jane wanted to punch out.

"The reason why I summoned you here, my dears, is to check on your progress. It's been quite a while since you have been changed, and I need to see how you have developed."

Jane grimaced slightly. She didn't want to inflict more pain on humans, even if it distracted them from the pain of having their life force drained from them.

Without warning, Caius rushed into the clearing. "Aro," he called out sharply. Aro looked at him with mild loathing; there were too many distractions for him to bear.

"I'm sorry that I'm intruding," Caius sneered, "but I caught wind of an Egyptian. One that you would want to join us."

Aro immediately became excited. "Yes, well?" he asked impatiently.

"Typical," Caius muttered. "Amun has apparently created a new one recently. He was approaching adulthood when he was turned a few decades ago. They have been working on his tracking abilities."

Aro nodded to himself slightly. "Well, we'll have to give our old _friend_ a visit, hmm?" he mused. Jane and Alec gave each other confused looks as they stood, forgotten by Aro. They each felt a hand on a shoulder and turned to see Marcus. Their sister's patron gently pulled back, directing them out of the clearing.

"What is going on, sir?" Alec asked. "No need for formalities; it's only Aro that has that odd superiority complex," Marcus corrected. "We are leaving England. Apparently a new treasure has cropped up. We don't have to change a human for this, though. He's already been turned."

Jane showed some interest in the speech. "We are leaving England for where?" she asked.

"Egypt, in Africa." The twins stared at him blankly. Marcus sighed. "Did Aro and Caius never give you geography lessons or something?" he said. "What's geography?" Alec asked curiously.

Marcus led the twins away, shaking his head. "I would have thought that those two would be somewhat competent at teaching you two _some_thing," he muttered.

* * *

Isabella glanced around. The land that her "coven," as Marcus called it, had gone to was arid and sunny, much to her dismay. England had been cloudy and somewhat humid, but it felt like home; this odd, new atmosphere was almost too much for her. Jane and Alec were just as uncomfortable, and their eyes darted everywhere as they tried to take the new land in.

Aro ushered the group into the shadows, away from the probing eyes of the humans. "Go into the dunes," he ordered. "Isabella, Chelsea, Alec, come with me. We are going to talk to our friend Amun."

The three guards quietly left their ranks. Jane stared at her siblings' backs desperately; this was the first time that she had been separated from them. Marcus felt her bond lure her towards Isabella and Alec and awkwardly laid his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from doing so. Jane looked at him helplessly, and he quietly guided her away. Isabella watched her sister walk away with a tortured expression. Alec whimpered beside her. He could feel his bond to his twin pulling him away, but the lure to his older sister was just as great.

Aro led the three guards over to a house that seemed to be made of mud. Chelsea seemed horrified; her previous life had stone or wooden homes, not this _peasant filth_. Alec and Isabella barely batted an eye, since they had lived in a similar home, although without the large windows that adorned the walls.

Their leader knocked on the door opening politely. Isabella could see shadows shifting unnaturally fast beyond the entrance and heard the harsh whispers too fast and too soft for human ears to detect. She knew that they were in foreign territory. "Alec, stay close," she breathed, and Alec nodded minutely. He didn't want to be caught unaware by a stranger.

A man with a darker skin tone hesitantly approached the group at the door. When his burgundy eyes locked onto Aro's, he immediately shifted into a defensive position and grimaced. "Aro," he said haltingly, still glowering at the vampire, "what brings you here?"

"Greetings, Amun," Aro said airily. "We hear that you have a new disciple. One from after you and Kebi fled from extinction along with Aahmas and Sati."

Amun's lip curled. "Yes, we did abandon our coven," he snarled, "but that does not mean you can walk all over us. Just because the others were weak does not mean that we are as well."

Aro held up his hands in a rather sarcastic gesture of surrender. "But, my _dear Amun_!" he cried out. "You misunderstand me greatly. All I want is to meet your student." Isabella snorted

Amun heard the noise and looked over the three others that accompanied Aro. "You have new students of your own," Amun said. "May I meet them first?"

"But of course," Aro purred. He shooed Chelsea to the back of the group and practically dragged Isabella and Alec to the front. "These are my newest treasures, Isabella and Alec. They are siblings, and they have one other sister, Jane. They have such wondrous powers, Amun, I'm sure you understand me," he practically gushed. Isabella cleared her throat in disgust and Alec gave a distasteful look towards Aro. Amun noticed these things with amusement.

"Another one, as well?" Amun asked. "Why is she not here?"

"Yes, Aro, why not?" Isabella cut in, raising an eyebrow. Amun approved of her rebellious nature, but Aro obviously didn't. Alec glanced back and forth uncertainly before suddenly whipping around and smiling. "We don't need to worry, Isabella," he responded in Aro's place, "for there she is."

Jane was walking with purpose through the shadows towards them. She bowed slightly to Aro despite not really wanting to. "Master Marcus asked me to come, sir," she said.

Aro grumbled. Marcus shouldn't have involved himself, but there was nothing he could really do about it now. "That's fine, dear." Aro turned back to Amun. "Well? Can we meet your student now?"

Amun nodded brusquely before waving all five of them inside. Once they were within the shadows, Isabella threw off the black cloak that was wrapped around her shoulders. "I hate that thing," she grumbled. Amun chuckled.

"Demetri," he called out, "come meet our guests."

A young man, possibly around eighteen when he was turned, came out of the hallway. He wore the traditional white tunic of a Greek, but had gold bangles characteristic of the Egyptian culture. His curious, bright red eyes perused the guests his maker had announced. "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said in a clipped tone.

Jane's eyes widened from beside Isabella. Alec noticed his twin's sudden change in mood and immediately knew what it meant. "Isa," he hissed urgently.

"I know, shush," she whispered back. Jane and Alec were already protected by her shield; this new feeling wasn't the newcomer's doing, but Jane's actual emotion.

Aro licked his lips. "Demetri, was it?" he stretched out a hand. Alarmed, Jane flashed a frantic look towards Isabella. The older girl quickly sent out a shield to protect Demetri a second before Aro grabbed his hand.

Amun watched Aro's expression turn from hungry and lustful to confused to annoyed. He dropped Demetri's hand quickly, much to the latter's confusion, and glared at Isabella. "It's not fair, master," she said (Amun noted the disrespect and boredom in her tone when she uttered the foul title) before sitting down. "He should be able to talk for himself, no?"

Aro nodded in a jerky manner. Demetri looked towards the siblings much more closely. Amun noticed as he stared at the younger girl with wide eyes; Amun knew that look.

Amun sighed in defeat. "Demetri, go with them." Aro raised an eyebrow. He had fully intended to persuade Demetri over, with Chelsea's help, but Amun was just conceding him?

The younger man swallowed as he glanced at his maker. "Are you sure, Amun?" he asked, a bit more hoarsely. Amun nodded. A woman walked out of the shadows; Isabella realized that she had been standing there the whole time. The woman had some sort of turquoise-golden jewelry that she carefully laid around Demetri's neck. The new necklace slid beneath Demetri's off-white clothing, and he nodded to the female vampire in thanks.

Isabella glanced towards Aro. At his insistence, she slowly tore her shield away from Demetri. She watched as Chelsea ensnared him and bound him to Aro, not as a servant, but as a guard. She watched as her sister's mate came to join their trio. She smiled in response to his nervous grin. Jane seemed to immediately welcome him into their small "family," and Alec nodded in approval.

The five vampires all wished Amun a farewell and left in the shadows from whence they came.

* * *

**A/N: I tried adding some Alec and Jane perspective to mix things up a bit. Demetri has joined the, ah, family and has become an integral part of the story. I'm not as solid on my Egyptian history as I am my European, so if you notice small discrepancies (or egregious ones) please let me know through a review or a PM, if you feel shy.**

**Reviews are a way for you to tell me if I need to improve anything or if I need to keep writing a certain way. Please use them to your heart's desire. (AKA If you review I will be happy.)**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	9. Reawakening: On Relationships

**Replies:**

**Guest and Zoe (Guest): Thanks for your support :)**

**LVB (Guest): I've been planning a lot of filler chapters, mostly because plot elements probably won't be too major until about halfway through this arc. The problem is that, even planning like this, the story's progressed extremely quickly. I tried to show how time doesn't matter at all, but for your (and anyone else's) curiosity, it's already around 1050-ish at the beginning of this chapter. I didn't want to show a noticeable difference in time, but Santiago and Corin joined around 950 and Demetri joined around 1050. Really, time doesn't matter too much. I am currently in my third (and final) year of high school history/social sciences; I took Government/Economics in ninth grade, US History in tenth, and European/World History this year. And to round out this incredibly long reply, I chose to give Demetri the gold because he was Greek xD According to the Wiki, at least, he was born in Greece, so I just imagined that Amun was less anal than Aro is going to be in this chapter about his culture.**

* * *

It was hard for Demetri to adapt to the Volturi lifestyle. His white tunic and other clothing were exchanged for black clothing, and Aro demanded from him his jewelry. This latter demand annoyed Demetri, and Jane protested as well. Isabella ended up having to keep the peace by forcing Demetri to compromise; he had to give up his clothing to keep some of the gold.

All three vampires accepted, although they were all a bit upset. Aro wanted to have his way and Demetri wasn't used to having to listen to a "master." Despite Isabella's attempts to calm her down, Jane practically exploded.

That was the day that Aro understood what Jane's power was.

"Demetri, please, just give them up," Aro said exasperatedly. He had already sent Chelsea to bring back black clothing and a dark grey cloak for his new recruit, but the vampire was refusing to take off his Egyptian outfit.

"I have used these clothes for centuries, sir," Demetri responded stiffly, "and I'd like to wear them for a few centuries more."

Alec looked towards Isabella helplessly. Isabella just shrugged and watched what happened.

Jane had run forward at the beginning of the argument. "Please, master, just let him keep his clothing," she begged.

"Run along, Jane, this doesn't concern you," Aro replied coldly. Jane's eyes widened.

"How doesn't it affect me?" she sputtered. "Proper grammar, Jane," Isabella called out. The younger girl gave her a death glare. Alec giggled next to Isabella, and Caius gave her a smirk.

Aro just rolled his eyes at their childishness. "Demetri, I insist. Remove your clothing," he snarled, shoving the dark clothing towards the other vampire.

Demetri's eyes flashed in anger. "You may be my master," he growled, "but you do not control my choices."

Jane looked back and forth between her master and her mate. "Demetri, don't extend this too far," she finally said dejectedly. Aro looked at Demetri triumphantly.

Demetri gazed at her again and sighed. "Fine," he grumbled, snatching the black clothing away.

The vampire disappeared for a few moments and returned dressed in the clothing Chelsea brought. He draped the charcoal grey cloak across his shoulders, scowling. The gold bangles he was still wearing glinted in the light. Aro raised an eyebrow. "Your jewelry, too, Demetri," he said softly, holding out a hand.

Demetri glared again before removing all of the thick gold bracelets. Aro frowned slightly. "Those three trinkets are jewelry, Demetri," he said.

Demetri's eyes widened. His hand flew towards the thin string that held three small charms. "No!" he sputtered. "These are actually meaningful, far more important than these things." He waved the tunic he had changed out of around.

Isabella felt Aro's temper slowly rise. She sat up a bit straighter, ready to intervene in any given situation.

"Explain," Aro said tersely.

Demetri gestured to the three charms around his neck. "This is the ankh," he said, showing the older vampire a symbol that looked like a loop on top of a T. "It stands for eternal life." He flicked it away and took out another symbol that looked almost like some sort of a tree. "This is the djed, symbolic of stability." He took out the last one, which resembled some sort of decorated hoop. "This is the sa; this is the one that Kebi just gave me." He stroked it thoughtlessly. "It represents her feelings of protection." He hid the golden charms under his cloak again. "These are more symbolic than these stinking cape-things, as well," Demetri grumbled.

Aro closed his eyes, looking more and more impatient. "Regardless," he hissed, "I want you to remove them and give them to me. Now."

Jane's eye color rippled from black to crimson to black again. She gave off an aura of pure hatred. "Isabella!" Alec said frantically. Isabella jerked forward just as Jane unleashed an arrow of pure pain towards Aro. In a flash, the ancient vampire was writhing on the ground, screeching. Demetri stared in fascinated horror at his mate's power, and Caius just began to laugh. He was amused by his brother's pain. _Disgusting,_ Isabella thought.

Jane's anger began to fade, and she looked on with mortification. _Did I do that?_ she thought to herself. She slowly took the pain away from Aro; the vampire was left retching as he crouched on the ground.

Isabella walked up and put her hand on Jane's shoulder. "Jane, why?" she asked with a sigh. Jane looked at her guiltily, but with an air of haughtiness. "He deserved it," she muttered. Isabella sighed again before pushing her towards Demetri gently. "Off with you two," she murmured. Demetri nodded slightly, still staring at Aro, and directed Jane towards the group of guards standing further away.

Isabella coldly watched as Aro regained his composure and stumbled onto his feet. "Just let him keep the amulets," she suggested before walking away. Alec quickly followed her, and Caius smirked at his brother as he walked over.

"That was a failure on your part," he said, snickering. Aro glared at him. Marcus walked up and just shook his head slightly. "You should have thought that through," he droned. The ancient vampires all just looked at each other.

"So, Jane's gift?" Marcus said, musing. Aro's eyes lit up. "Yes, that was very exciting," he said, thinking of the intense pain that had coursed through his dead veins. It felt as though every part of his being had been set on fire while being broken; not even that description was enough. The only thing more potent was transformation.

"It must be from the burning," Caius said offhandedly. "In that case, Isabella and Alec might develop gifts based on their own experiences being burned," Aro thought out loud.

Caius raised an eyebrow. "Alec has developed the power of numbing. You are sent to a world of no feeling. If he cast you into this world and you were torn apart and set on fire, you would feel nothing but a slight pinch on your body. He is very powerful."

"Isabella has a mental shield," Marcus said quietly, thinking of his disciple. "She constantly protects her siblings. Nothing can penetrate her will. It stems from her protective instinct. She ran into a fire to save her siblings, and this willpower manifested itself into a powerful barrier that can't be overcome."

It was Aro's turn to raise an eyebrow. "How did you two know that?" he asked.

"They showed us, of course," Caius said sardonically. "If you don't get Jane's trust, you'll be missing out on a lot."

Marcus and Caius walked away, leaving a thunderstruck Aro in their wakes.

Jane refused to apologize for her behavior. Whenever Aro approached her, she sent out a spike of pain that Isabella had to block. This continued for a few years before Isabella finally told Jane to "stop doing that, unless I need to direct it towards you next time." Demetri had glared at Isabella, but Jane had just laughed and agreed to stop.

Alec watched Jane and Demetri interact with one another. Suddenly, his sister wasn't dependent on him; she was mutually dependent on this new vampire. They seemed to complete one another. No one could make a mark in their relationship, just like the siblings'. Isabella had easily welcomed Demetri into their odd "inner" family apart from the rest of the coven, but Alec didn't accept him as readily.

"Alec, can't you just try to get along with Demetri?" Isabella asked after a particularly bad episode in which Alec refused to speak to Demetri, despite the latter's attempts.

Alec just gave the vampire in question a murderous glance. "I don't know, Isa," he replied after a time. "I just can't accept that Jane doesn't need me anymore, I guess." His eyes widened once he realized what he admitted.

"So, you're jealous?" Isabella asked. Alec merely crossed his arms and refused to respond. Isabella chuckled at his immature behavior.

"You'll get over it," she prophesized. He shrugged and stared at the two wistfully. Jane had climbed a tree and Demetri was pacing around its roots, staring up at her worriedly. "I don't know, Isabella," Alec said quietly before walking away slowly.

Isabella sighed, wishing that she could just help Alec with his envy. She watched as Jane dropped a branch onto Demetri's head and laughed at his semi-outraged response. Isabella was still smiling when she walked away to find the rest of the Volturi coven.

She found Santiago and Corin dueling, keeping their skills sharp. The two wove around one another as if in a mesmerizing dance to death or, in their case, destruction. Corin dove onto Santiago, wrenching his arm behind his back before kicking him away from her. He lurched forward but caught his balance and whipped back around, eyes aflame. Corin gave him a deranged smile before launching herself at him again, this time grabbing a leg. She flicked him onto his back before throwing herself on top of him and pummeling him until he howled out a surrender.

Isabella grinned at Corin's prowess. Corin looked up and nodded to Isabella. The brunette nodded back and kept walking.

_No matter how much my siblings mess up,_ she thought wryly, _they can't have a more dysfunctional relationship than that._

* * *

**Sorry about the short chapter this time, but there's a larger plot element for next time, and including it would make this chapter at least 5,000 words. I think. I'm not sure how long it will be yet, to be honest. **

**Please review with either grammar errors or criticisms! And praise. Any trolling will be deleted.**

**~Shriayle**


	10. Reawakening: Rising Sunset

**Replies:**

**alyssamcgrath: Alec still has that protective brother instinct, even if Jane is older by five minutes ;)**

**ArabellaWhitlock: Thanks! Jane has an explosive temper, to say the least.**

**Unknown Words: Alec won't be too poor for long :P**

**LVB (Guest): Alec's opinion of Demetri should get better. Eventually. About the movie/school thing, I'm not too sure which movies you might be thinking about. Each school can be different; even in just the school districts in California are different. My school, for example is on a modified block schedule, in which we have three classes every day and rotate between four classes every other day (two per day). However, other schools are on traditional, which is just six to seven classes every day. Finally, my school doesn't use lockers, but many schools give their students lockers. It really depends which school you go to here in America :)**

**Also, I put up a poll about Isabella's mate. While I'm not too concerned about giving her a "significant other," you guys seem to want to give her one. Go vote for your favorites, and if you have one you want to be considered, let me know and I'll put him/her up. (Yes it can be a girl, Isabella can be pansexual for all I care.)**

* * *

A man, well-dressed as a lord should be, was wandering in the forest. Isabella silently padded closer, her eyes glistening, when she stopped abruptly. The man's scent was tainted with another's; he had brought a girl, maybe around 14, with him. They had a distinctly Mediterranean look about them, but then again, she wasn't sure quite where they were. Maybe they were near the coast in Aro's Italy.

The girl glanced around. Isabella wondered if she had picked up on another presence. Isabella tried to approach the two, but she felt herself repelled away. She quickly strengthened her mental shield with additional layers to combat the physical repulsion. _Odd_, she thought. _What an interesting gift. Maybe they're looking for Aro or something._

Isabella quietly followed them. The girl seemed nervous and kept glancing around, as if hoping to catch some sight of an intruder. When Isabella realized that they were within Jane's reach, she intercepted their path. The two others froze when they saw a third vampire appear from the woods.

"Who are you?" The man asked in an almost imperial manner. The girl's eyes widened and she backed away slightly. Isabella bowed her head slightly.

"Isabella of the Volturi, pleasure to meet you," she said. The man's eyes widened. "Can you take us to Aro?" he blurted out. Isabella raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't mind telling me who you were, would you?" she asked in response.

"I am Luca," the man said, "and this is Renata. We need, ah, _protection_, if you will."

Isabella appraised the man. He seemed to know Aro on a non-Master basis, and that was good enough for her. "Indeed?" she said softly. She stared at Renata; the girl looked as though she would have blushed if she could.

"Follow me," Isabella said suddenly. She turned around and dashed through the woods, hearing Renata and Luca follow her. Just before entering the clearing the rest of the Volturi called "home," she stopped short.

"Renata, you'll have to turn your shield off," Isabella said, giving her an apologetic look. "If Aro can't approach you, there's no telling what he'll do."

"He lets you call him Aro?" Luca asked. Isabella smirked. "Who's to say that I listen to him?" she responded airily. Renata gave a nervous laugh, and Isabella smiled much more genuinely at her.

The three entered the clearing. Immediately, Alec and Jane appeared next to Isabella. "Isa, who is this?" Jane asked, sounding a bit rude.

"Jane, hold on," Alec said, not looking at the newcomers. "The master probably wants to see them." He bowed to the two vampires, not even looking them in the eyes as he usually would. "Welcome," he said quietly.

Isabella placed a hand on his shoulder and gripped it gently. "Can you get the master, Jane?" she requested. Jane rolled her eyes but grabbed Demetri's hand and ran off with him to fetch the elder vampire. Isabella gave yet another apologetic look to Luca, who chuckled in response. Renata merely gripped his hand tighter.

Jane returned with Aro, Demetri following them. "Luca, my friend!" Aro sang out, floating over to hug him. Luca gave a rather mortified look at the sudden embrace.

"Aro," he said stiffly. Aro released him, and Luca turned to Renata. "This is my grand-niece, Renata," Luca said. Aro nodded slowly. "She has a talent, one that you will like."

Renata glanced back at Isabella. "Can I turn it on now?" she whispered. Isabella smiled and nodded reassuringly. Renata let out a shaky breath before allowing her repulsion to appear. Immediately, Luca and Aro seemed to be pushed away from the two women. Aro's eyes glistened hungrily.

"What is this sorcery?" he asked, wonder in his voice. "My dear Renata! Please, come over here!"

Renata approached him, eyes to the ground. "She is still in the newborn stage," Luca explained, "but she has perfected her self-control. I thought you could protect her from the Romanians for me."

"But Uncle Luca," Renata whimpered, trying to reach back to him. Luca stepped out of her rapacious reach.

"I can't survive without Pina, Aro," Luca said softly. He began to back away, shaking his head slowly, Renata struggling to get to him. "But," he said haltingly, "I couldn't leave my darling Renata on her own, either. I have to rejoin my mate, but make sure my family is safe. Please, my friend. Help me."

Aro nodded solemnly. "May your descent be good for you," he intoned. Luca nodded before brusquely running off, crashing through the forest.

Renata's shoulders shook in spasms. Isabella felt the girl sob without tears next to her. She felt a pair of watching eyes.

Alec was watching the two of them, his eyes filled with sympathy. Isabella beckoned him over. "Help her, will you?" she whispered. Alec muttered an agreement before gently taking her arm and pulling on it. Her head whipped up and for the first time they locked eyes.

Isabella smiled as she watched her brother's expression morph. _He won't be jealous of Demetri anymore,_ she thought in amusement as she watched Alec guide Renata into the woods, perhaps to talk, perhaps to hunt, but definitely to heal her broken heart.

The next sunrise, Alec had convinced Renata to meet Jane and Demetri. Although the Maltese vampire trusted what Isabella said about Jane's fun-loving attitude (to put it lightly) and Demetri's down-to-earth nature, she wasn't sure about actually talking to them. However, with Alec's pleading, she finally agreed to talk to Jane _just this one time_, as she insisted.

Renata was playing with a strand of her dark hair when Jane approached. Jane had recently decided to get rid of her long hair; she wanted it short enough to prevent others from being able to grab it, as she so eloquently described. Demetri was right beside her. His broad body and height only dwarfed Jane more, but they seemed to go well together because of that. The two milled about a few feet away from Alec and Renata, partially to be polite, partially because Renata was repelling them unknowingly.

Renata glanced at Alec nervously. She was a petite vampire, slightly shorter than Jane, and her stature made her feel all the more vulnerable. She took a deep breath to steady herself before tentatively dropping her shield.

Jane bounced over and hugged Renata. "So you're the one that my brother's been absolutely smitten with," she chirped. Renata looked startled at the statement and Alec looked rather embarrassed. Demetri chuckled.

"Y-yes, I suppose so," Renata replied. Alec grinned at her reassuringly, and she gave him a smile in response.

Jane smirked. "Ah, young love," she said, sighing.

"What is there to say about you and Demetri, then?" Alec shot back.

"Well, it's been millions of sunrises since I met him, now, hasn't it?" Jane retorted, and the twins fell into one of their practically daily arguments. Renata looked on in amusement.

"Forgive them, they'll be done soon enough," Demetri said with a sigh. Renata giggled. Demetri gave her a half-smile before holding his hand out. "In case you didn't know, I'm Demetri. Jane's mate." Renata's eyes widened. She had forgotten about that…

Mate. M-a-t-e. A being so perfectly suited to you that you could trust them almost instinctively. And apparently, hers was this other twin. Alec. He seemed so right for her, knowing when to stop pushing and when to insist (gently, mind) on having his way. She had heard of his power, the power to rid the body of all senses, the intensity of his numbing ability, but she also knew, somehow, that he would never use it on her. She knew this in the same way she knew that she could not help but protect him with her shield, a shield that only the most powerful of other shields could repel. Isabella, the mental shield, the sister of the twins.

Renata trusted Isabella in a heartbeat. The older girl just seemed to emanate calm, which could both relax her fiery sister and relieve her icy brother's countenance. She was the mother to their family, yet also still but a child. After Alec had claimed Renata as his, Isabella had readily accepted her into their rather dysfunctional family.

Renata laughed along with Demetri's jibes towards the quarreling twins. She noticed Isabella standing some distance away and gave her a happy grin. Isabella returned the smile and came over to join the rest. Renata shifted over slightly and then had to readjust her new cloak. It was as black as Isabella's, and as black as Jane's and Alec's, Renata realized. Demetri's was a couple shades lighter.

"Isabella?" she asked. The vampire in question looked at her and cocked her head slightly. "Yes, what is it?" "What do these cloaks stand for?"

Isabella blew a breath out of her mouth. "Well, they stand for rank." Renata's eyebrows furrowed. What?

"The darker the cloak, the more Aro values your skill. He loves us siblings, and your gift is singular enough for him to value it more than pure gold," Isabella explained. Renata nodded slowly. "What does Demetri lack that we have, then?" she asked.

"Well, for one, you're pretty subservient," Jane said, butting into the conversation. Isabella shot her a scathing look, but the blonde just shrugged. "What? It's true." Jane poked Renata's stomach, making the younger vampire giggle a bit. "We don't call him master. We weren't raised to depend on an adult. But Ren here was raised by that Luca guy, it seems, and he transferred quote-en-quote 'lordship' to Mr. Obsessive there."

Alec rolled his eyes. "I'd appreciate your treating my mate more respectfully, sister," he muttered. Jane shot him an open-mouthed smile, to which Demetri merely shook his head, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

Isabella smiled at the twins' conversation. It was slowly inching towards the idea of testing out their powers on another vampire. "Not Felix again, Jane," Isabella added. The blonde scowled. "It was just a _joke_…" she grumbled.

Demetri noticed Renata's confused look. "Jane threatened Felix by saying that she would torture him until he brought her some dinner," he explained dryly. "Of course, Felix said no, and Jane pretended to inflict pain on him until he ran off frantically. I had to smooth things over, as usual."

Jane smirked again. "All in a day's work, darling," she purred. Isabella just rolled her eyes. _Of course,_ she thought.

* * *

**One final note about the story: Renata is canon-20, but to me her actions fit those of a 14-year old better. So.**

**Two more things: first, I apologize for these shorter chapters. Trying to cram in backstory and stuff is difficult to expand on.**

**The second is that I need someone to read these chapters over. For the first five or so, I spent quite a few days reading them over, tweaking them here and there, but I have no more time for that. It can even be a guest, I just need an email address or something to communicate with you. The bottom line is that I need another person to just read the chapters over and maybe offer ideas for filler or for dialogue or something. That is all.**

**Thanks for your support! ~Shriayle**


	11. Reawakening: Protectors

**The more that I look at it, I wonder if "Witchcraft" is even an appropriate title for this fanfic. I'll look for a better one later, I guess.**

**Replies:**

**To all of you who said you loved the story so far: Thank you from the bottom of my heart :)**

**ArabellaWhitlock: I'll consider your idea! Although I'm uncertain about Marcus/Isabella. That kinda creeps me out, but that's just because I know what's going to happen next in the plot anyhow so :P**

**storyme: I'm flattered :D I can honestly say that while I liked the Twilight world, I hated the plot. It just felt overall really inane. So this is me supercharging it with my own flair. Also, I'm not sure whether to label this story as a romance. Then again, I just put supernatural in an archive of vampire stories -_- I'm not sure how to classify it. I might update that later.**

**megan (Guest): The main plotline of the Twilight series will still be in play, just with another human instead of Isabella. So Edward/Isabella will never happen. (sorry if you wanted it to, if anyone else is reading this) Two mates? I'm not sure about that xD My original intention was to not give Isabella a mate bond, but a familial bond to Jane and Alec, so that kinda counts, although I'm revising that now. Who knows.**

**Thanks for your support :3**

* * *

Marcus drifted through the forest. It had been centuries since they had started living in the forest, and it was just getting too boring. The constant trees and shadows bored him even more.

Caius was walking by and gave him a glance before smirking and striding away purposefully. Even Caius had a purpose. After Didyme died, Marcus had lost his purpose.

The only thing that kept him extant was Chelsea's bond. That is, until the siblings entered the guard.

The siblings were an odd trio. Jane and Alec would have been born wild and dangerous if they didn't have Isabella to calm them down, mellow them out. The twins were completely loyal to Isabella, more loyal than they were to any of the Original Trio. However, they each served a different brother while being protected by Isabella's barrier.

Isabella piqued Marcus's interest, and she was the reason for him to live now. He felt a fatherly affection for the brunette, and while he didn't involve himself too much with her, he was always observing how she acted with her siblings. He had been slowly using her tactics with his own brothers. To his delight, it worked surprisingly well; Aro and Caius were beginning to notice him again, to let him be the deciding factor. Marcus was regaining power, thanks to his unknowing apprentice.

The aforementioned vampire had just crossed his path as he walked through the trees. She hesitated a bit before bowing her head slightly. "Good morn, Master Marcus," she chirped. _She doesn't refer to Aro as Master_, Marcus thought with amusement. If Aro saw this exchange, it would be a major thorn in his pride.

Marcus returned the formal gesture. "Good morn to you as well, Isabella," he responded a bit more quietly than she. "Have you seen Jane around? She asked for me earlier, when I was busy, but now that I'm free, she's nowhere to be seen," Isabella said. Marcus shook his head. Isabella smiled briefly before walking off in search of her wayward sibling.

Isabella found Jane alone, for once. It was the first time Isabella had seen her without Demetri around. "Jane," Isabella called; the girl whipped around violently. Upon catching sight of Isabella, her eyes lit up. "Isa!" she called back, flitting over to her sister's side. Isabella ran her hand through Jane's short hair. Jane rolled her eyes.

"Not this discussion again," she complained loudly. Isabella cracked a smile and shook her head.

"No, Jane, not that discussion again." A glimmer of golden light at the base of Jane's throat caught Isabella's attention. "What's that, sister?"

Jane's hand flew up to her neck, and after a moment of hesitation, the younger girl showed her sister. Isabella gasped slightly. "Isn't that one of Demetri's amulets?" she asked.

Jane nodded, her fingers tracing the intricate pattern carved onto the ankh. "He gave it to me a few sunrises ago," Jane murmured lovingly. Isabella embraced her sister, flooded with sympathetic happiness. Jane hugged back just as enthusiastically.

Alec burst in on the scene. He patiently waited for them to notice him. Jane shrieked in mock surprise upon seeing him, for she had detected his soothing lemony honey scent the moment he walked in. "Brother!" she pretended to whine. Alec snickered softly.

Isabella watched them squabble once again, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "You two haven't gotten any better since we were changed, have you?" she murmured to herself as Jane and Alec poked each other with sticks and wrestled across the clearing.

* * *

Later, Jane and Alec reunited with their mates to spend some quality time with them. Isabella had just let them go with a motherly smile before enjoying her solitude. Many thought that, after her siblings "outgrew" her protection, she would grow lonely, but in actuality she treasured her peace. Isabella relished being able to think without being interrupted by the twins, as much as she loved them. She lay on her back, staring at the stars through a myriad of branches, all alone. Or, at least, that's what she thought.

"They are nice, aren't they?" Isabella twisted her neck around to see Chelsea standing at the edge of the clearing, smiling faintly. "Isn't Afton looking for you?" Isabella asked vaguely. Chelsea shrugged in reply before plopping herself down next to Isabella. "He probably will be, the protective fool. I'm alright by myself, thank you very much," she said.

"I don't doubt that you are." Chelsea nodded in appreciation of the veiled compliment and the two stared at the stars.

"Look at them," Chelsea breathed. Isabella gave no sign of hearing her, but Chelsea knew that she had. "They're just little pinpricks of light, scattered in the sky. No one knows where they're from or how they got there. And the moon, largest of them all, said to be perfect. We are made to be as perfect as the moon, they say, not the werewolves."

Isabella gave Chelsea a startled look. "You speak of the Children of the Moon as if they were real," she said. Chelsea chuckled. "I assure you, they are very much real, Isabella," Chelsea said. Isabella's eyes widened slightly; she didn't want to meet one of the vampire's worst enemies. "However, Caius sent us all after them to tear them apart. The werewolf saliva cannot stand the venom of a vampire. We were sent to bite them and watch them howl in pain before their blood vessels ruptured and they were left a mess on the ground."

Isabella was much more unnerved by this serene woman now. "You don't say," she muttered. Chelsea gave her a dreamy smile. "I speak the truth, child," she said gently. She turned her crimson eyes back up to the sky. "Ah, look, there's Ursa Major and Ursa Minor," she said, pointing at the two constellations. "My people came up with the stories behind them. You would call those stories pagan, but I called them religion, once upon a time."

Her companion gave no sign of hearing once again. Chelsea kept quietly speaking, her slightly disjointed expression never leaving her face. "A mother was turned into a bear by Hera, queen of gods, for mothering Zeus's son. The king of the gods was never very, ah, fidelous. Is that the word?"

"Try 'faithful,'" Isabella suggested. Chelsea just waved her hand in a dismissive manner.

"Yes, that sounds about right. Anyhow, shortly after giving birth to a baby boy, the woman was cursed to become a bear. She had no idea how to be a bear, and she ended up foraging few berries and having to survive on carrion. She grew skinny, and her fur grew mangy. One day, she decided to try stealing a hunter's trapped prey. It had been only a couple of years since she was turned, and she had barely survived the winter. She snuck up and grabbed the meat away, but in turning away, she noticed a green figure shifting in the forest. After eating quickly, she followed the thing, which we know now was a dryad, a tree nymph.

"The nymph tried to chase the bear away, for she was guarding a boy that the great king of the gods Zeus himself had given her flock of trees." "There's no such thing as a flock of trees." "There is now. Anyways, the mother bear became hopeful, and she pushed the dryad away to see the boy. And, clear as daylight, there stood a small child that had her human eyes and human hair. It was her son. She had to run away afterwards, but she cried tears of joy at seeing her baby again.

"More years passed. The bear learned how to be a bear. One day, she was snuffling about in new areas of forest when a hunter came upon her. Unbeknownst to him, he was the grown child of the bear he decided to hunt. He strung his bow tautly and taken an arrow." At this, Chelsea gestured to a group of stars that were near the constellation she had earlier deemed Ursa Major. "And he carefully bent behind a bush while uttering prayers to the gods Apollo and Artemis to make sure his arrow did not fail him. This was the first bear he had ever seen in the woods. As he crouched, the bear heard the noise and turned to see what it was. She was happily shocked to see that it was her son, a boy of now 198 moons, that's about 16 years 6 months I believe, but was horrified that he was aiming at her.

"She let out a distressed cry, a screech that made the hunter hesitate. It sounded so agonized, so upset, that he couldn't shoot for a few seconds as he regained his thoughts. Zeus heard her distress calls and saw the hunter, and quickly intervened again by turning the hunter into a younger bear. In shock, the younger bear screeched himself, and the mother lumbered over to check on him. They communed with one another, and the young bear picked up him bow and arrows before following his mother into the woods.

"Hera had learned of her husband's doings and, enraged, took the bears by their tails and swung them around into the sky, elongating the tails as she did so. Zeus hastily turned them into constellations so they wouldn't die; in the process, the bow was also stuck in the canopy of night. However, Hera got the last laugh, because she made a deal with the sea god Poseidon to make the constellations perennial. They could never go below the horizon to rest. And Zeus could not do any more for this lover, for by now he had already acquired another one."

There was a moment of silence as Isabella took in the story. Chelsea smirked. "The end," she sang out softly.

"Did that story have an actual point?" Isabella asked exasperatedly.

Chelsea thought about it before shrugging. "Don't anger a wrathful goddess? Don't have sex with a god? There is really no main message for the story. It's just something to explain the reason for the stars."

Isabella made a noncommittal sound. Chelsea got up, readjusted her cloak, and patted Isabella's shoulder slightly before moving away. Isabella was left by herself again, lying on the ground, lost in her thoughts.

* * *

Isabella was drilling Renata on her physical fighting skills. Jane and Alec had already gotten lessons from their sister, and they had insisted that she teach their mates as well. Renata wasn't taking well to the lessons, but Demetri seemed to be a natural. After a few increasingly dangerous bouts with him, Isabella had sent him off to fight with Felix. The two were having a good time, it seemed, because Isabella could hear trees being uprooted violently and branches splintering off of trunks.

Renata whimpered to herself. She couldn't fight! She had no offensive ability, and whenever someone approached her, she just deflected them away, anyways. Isabella had been trying to show her how someone could get under her shield, somehow, and possibly get to her, but Renata had just sent out another shield. Finally, Isabella gave up.

"You know what, just tell Aro that you will shield him. That ought to make him shut up about making me teach someone who's unwilling to fight," Isabella relented. Renata had given her a grateful, apologetic smile before darting off to find Aro.

Isabella went to see how Demetri was doing. She had to abruptly duck when Felix's fist suddenly appeared in her vision.

"Oh my God, Isabella! I'm so sorry that you had to do that," Felix said. Demetri chuckled from behind him before grabbing Felix's arms, wrenching them backwards, and flinging him across the clearing. "That's what you get for messing with my family!" Demetri called after him. Isabella shook her head at his childish actions. "Did Jane teach you that?" she dead-panned. He gave her a mischievous smile.

"I saw the charm, by the way." Demetri froze at her words. He turned slowly, his crimson eyes turning harder and more clouded, somehow. He seemed a bit scared, somehow. "It was a nice gesture. I liked it," Isabella quickly added. Just as suddenly, his eyes softened and grew bright again. "Do you really think so?" he asked, but she couldn't reply, as Felix had kicked Demetri's leg out from underneath him. Demetri sprang back up like some sort of cat and threw himself back into the fight. Isabella chuckled and walked away. _Men_, she thought with a derisive snort.

Isabella walked on until she found Aro. Renata had found him before Isabella had, and she was discussing something with the old vampire. His eyes were gleaming with lust as he carefully stroked Renata's hair out of her face. The girl was cringing away from his grasp.

Isabella nonchalantly walked up to the pair when she was blocked. "Renata, can I come in?" she called out. Renata looked up at her with happy eyes but glanced over at Aro. The other vampire was frowning slightly. "This is a private gathering," he called out stiffly. Renata felt herself shrink into her cloak. Noticing the slight action, Isabella tried to walk towards the barrier again to no avail.

Aro smirked before bending down over Renata once more. "Now, my sweet," he cooed when Renata let out a shriek. Immediately, Isabella was by her side, cradling the girl against her chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know that would happen, I'm sorry…" Isabella whispered into Renata's ear. The other vampire whimpered, clutching her head. Soon, her pained squeaks receded.

"Isabella, what did you just do?" Aro asked, not out of concern for Renata, but out of morbid curiosity. Isabella shot him a look. "I tried to take down her shield," she said impassively. "It worked."

"Why would that be painful?" Aro asked.

"Imagine someone carefully digging their fangs into your head and peeling layer upon layer off as slowly as possible." Aro winced at the imagined pain. If Isabella had managed to do that to Renata, what other damage could she do? "How long have you known that you can do that?"

"Long enough." Isabella grimaced. "It was a lucky guess. I just made an opening small enough for myself to slip through, but if I forced the entire shield to shut down…" She looked down helplessly at Renata, who was still in the fetal position. "It might drive anyone insane from the pain."

"Would humans be any less affected?" Aro asked. "I don't think so," Isabella said, pondering. Her typical disgust towards Aro was completely gone as she discussed this finding with him like some sort of professor. "All minds are the same; after all, the vampire venom only seems to make the rest of our mind available for use. I'm sure that the humans would feel the same pain that Renata had to. They'd probably feel just as relieved when I rebuild their shields, as well."

Aro closed his eyes. "The Romanians have a shield…" he murmured. "Vladimir's wife. She is one of their key masterminds. But she had a mental shield, not as powerful as yours, but strong enough that Jane, for example, would not be able to affect her. You could pull off the shield and Jane or Alec could incapacitate her… then the rest of the coven…"

Isabella didn't hear the rest. She was still curled up with Renata, whispering apologies, as Aro walked away, still musing aloud.

* * *

**Some final notes relating to this chapter: fidelous is not a real word, it's Chelsea's odd direct-translation-thing gone wrong.** **The story she told is a Greek myth, but the added thing about the bow is my addition, as well as a few of the minor details. For example, the bear and the hunter probably have names, but I was too lazy to find them, so they're just the bear and the hunter. Finally, the last bit with Renata is rather obvious foreshadowing; at least, it's obvious to me. If you think you know what it's for, review, because I'm curious about your imaginations :)**

**Also, I will be gone for a couple of weeks as my family is traveling to the other side of the country. I will be back by July 5, and hopefully have written a few more chapters on the plane out of sheer boredom.**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	12. Reawakening: Time Passes

**I had some time while in the car to write more :D Yay for three hour road trips!**

**Replies:**

**alyssamcgrath: Um, it's been explained here. I felt very uncomfortable writing that, to be honest xD But yeah, he's a little bit of a creeper in that. Sorry.**

**Arabella Whitlock: Thanks! That section is ultra foreshadowing, so be ready to see it back again ;)  
**

**Pixistxs: Well, she still has companionship, but I see what you mean. If you haven't yet, just go vote for a possible mate on my profile. I'm still not sure whether I should give her one, but I'm willing to consider it.**

**Calista (Guest): Thanks! It's not quite July yet, but here's a new chapter :3**

* * *

Sulpicia stormed out of the forest. How _dare_ her mate try something like that with a guard?! A lowly guard! She shuddered at the thought of _seducing_ someone like Felix.

"Aro!" she shrieked out. The vampire turned slowly, as if expecting her. "Sulpicia, my darling," he called out in a saccharine tone. Sulpicia scowled, feeling the falseness of his voice. "What is it, my beauty?" Aro asked in the same tone.

"I hear tell that you were speaking to Renata in an unfounded way," Sulpicia began, but Aro swept her up in an embrace. "Continue on," he purred; her undead heart would have drowned out any other noise had it been able to beat. Since it really couldn't, she just froze for a split second before recovering.

"W-what I was saying was that you can't treat your guards like that," she stuttered out. Aro stroked her hair lovingly. "Like what, my sweet?" he whispered. She shivered in pleasure, but wasn't distracted at all.

"Like prostitutes," she said coldly. Aro swept away from her, his eyes surprised and somehow a little bit scared. "Oh yes, I heard," she snarled, stalking Aro as if he was her prey (he ruefully remembered how long it had been since they hunted together. He forced himself to snap out of it; that wasn't the proper thought to have right now).

"Isabella told me all about it," Sulpicia hissed, "how she found you in a clearing, _touching_ Alec's mate in an uncalled for way! Isabella told me how you talked to her softly, how she cringed away from your hand, how she was forced to shield everyone else away!"

"Did she tell you that I was trying to make Renata's ability affect me, within her shield?" Aro asked in a clipped tone. Sulpicia's eyes flew open in shock.

"I thought that if I, ah, _bothered_ her, she would develop additional layers underneath her main shield, the way that Isabella does. I wanted to test the range of her shield. I did not want her." Suddenly, Aro was right in front of her. "I want you," he said softly.

Sulpicia knew that she shouldn't trust him so quickly, but it was hard to resist his strong arms, his lips on her own. She melted against him, deepening their embrace, but once they pulled away from each other, she leaned in once more. "I won't forget this," she whispered before turning and disappearing into the shadows, Aro staring after her wistfully.

Sulpicia walked through the forest, her mind racing. What Isabella had said was completely true; she never doubted the brunette, no matter how aloof she was. However, her heart never let her think against Aro. In frustration, Sulpicia let out a scream and punched a tree, uprooting it and knocking it into another. She stared at the fallen plant.

"Was that necessary, sister?" Athenodora carefully made her way over the tree and next to Sulpicia. The latter vampire sighed before sitting down upon her destructive creation. "I don't know, Athena," she said exasperatedly, holding her hands up. "Is anything necessary?"

"Oh, look at that, Sully's finally getting deep," Athenodora cooed mockingly. Sulpicia shot her a look. "Why are we friends again?" she asked.

Athenodora smirked at her discomfort. "Because our mates are brothers," she sang out, patting Sulpicia's head (complete with a pouting face) before getting up and dancing away.

* * *

Isabella wandered through the forest. It's been almost four centuries since we've been changed, she mused. The sheer enormity of that time period was practically insane, for a human mind. As mortal beings, humans were given maybe 40 years at best to live; as immortal beings, vampires were given until the world crumbled to dust and was no more, and maybe even after that they would continue to exist. The four hundred-odd years seemed like a fortnight to Isabella. The days were practically minutes for them (or the sunrises, as Aro so adamantly called them). There was no point in measuring things in days anymore, even. The most important days of a vampire's life was already imprinted on their lives, like the day you meet your mate and the day you meet your coven.

Her musing led to her meandering through the trees at breakneck speeds. Whenever her mind decided to wander, she would unknowingly react physically. The faster she thought, the faster her feet traveled. And the less she paid attention.

"Oof!" She had run into something hard. She glared up and Caius glared back at her. She had sprinted headlong into the most disagreeable vampire possible. _Brilliant_, she grumbled to herself.

"Good afternoon, Caius," she said, her outward expression blank while she glared at him inwardly. He raised an eyebrow. Despite what his brothers thought, Caius did indeed have a sort of special gift. He was able to sense anger and violence within others, despite not being very good at it. He could basically only know that someone was distressed. Since practically everyone that ever lived was always angry at something, Aro didn't think that his ability was special. This time, Caius could feel the roiling waves of pure rancor radiating from Isabella. He immediately grew wary.

"What, no 'Master'?" he asked wryly. Even if she was acting violently, that didn't mean that he couldn't be caustic, though he knew that he might be signing a death wish.

Isabella glared at him for a while before realizing that he was much more lighthearted than she thought and was attempting to make a joke. She relaxed slightly before sighing.

"Sorry about bumping into you," she muttered. He cocked an eyebrow. "You're apologizing?" he teased. She pouted slightly to herself. "Maybe," she muttered again.

"What were you thinking about so carefully that you weren't paying attention to your surroundings, Isabella?" Caius asked. She shrugged. "Immortality, mostly," she admitted. Caius chuckled.

"Oh, that old thing? The whole 'we will never die of natural causes' thing? Calm down about that. You will get used to it."

"I've had four hundred years to get used to it, Caius," Isabella said, rolling her eyes. If it had been any other guard's action, Caius would probably have his/her head. Since it was one of the siblings, he condoned it. He was rather partial to them, especially their constant, albeit somewhat petty revolts from Aro.

"It took me four hundred more than that," he admitted. Before she could give him a skeptical look, he had walked away, leaving only crushed leaves in his wake.

* * *

Jane was dragging Demetri behind her as they walked through the forest. "Come on, Demi!" Jane squealed. She pulled on his hand again. Demetri sighed to himself as she nearly took his arm off. "Jane, I'm going to be in five pieces if you keep tugging like that," he drawled. She immediately let go with a guilty expression. "I'm so sorry!" she cried out in horror.

_Oh, scarabs_, Demetri thought as her face crumpled slightly. "No, Jane, I didn't mean it like that," he said frantically. Isabella had gone off somewhere, and he really didn't want to feel Jane's 'pain', especially after Felix's horror stories. He shuddered, imagining having to feel fire through his veins. Jane gave a petulant little sniff, which prompted Demetri to take a tentative step forward to comfort her.

She glared at him scathingly before leaping into his arms, much to his surprise. When she looked at his face again, she was smirking slightly. "Silly Demetri," she sang out. "Nothing you say can hurt me." Demetri laughed aloud at his short-sightedness and her cunning. Jane smiled at the musical sound.

"Of course not," he said, embracing her further. She sighed in happiness as the two of them curled up around each other, right next to a yew bush. She looked over at the thorny branches.

"Look, the berries are in season," she said, reaching out for one of the red fruits. She snagged one in her hand. Demetri glanced over at a bunch of them. They shimmered in the sunlight, their skins the same shade of red as Jane's eyes. He picked a branch of them and swiftly wove them into a wreath. She only had time to look at him curiously before he placed the branch on her head like a circlet. He carefully adjusted her pale-brown hair around it.

She felt the wreath, its prickly thorns, its green leaves, its round scarlet berries. "Why did you do that?" she asked in bewilderment.

He just smiled at her. "Now they're even more beautiful," he said. She glowed at the veiled compliment and snuggled closer to him.

"Did you have yew berries in Greece?" she asked curiously. He shook his head slightly. "Not really," he admitted. "We had olive bushes and laurel wreaths, but neither of those are as colorful, to be honest."

Jane fingered her circlet again. "It's just sort of ironic that I'm wearing this," she said with a smirk. He gave her a confused look. She responded to his unasked question, "If ingested, these berries can be fatal to mortals."

Demetri let out a noise of realization. "But we can't die," Jane continued as if he was silent. "It's ironic."

They were both quiet in the silence that resulted. Jane closed her eyes. There was a mockingbird singing in the distance. The bird was singing his heart out, singing the song of the sparrows. They didn't make their own melodies, but took others' melodies and changed them to...beautify them? She wasn't really sure.

"We are the melodies and the mockingbirds," Demetri said in a low voice, as if hearing her thoughts. "We were the melodies sung by sparrows, once, when we were mortal. The mockingbird bit us and changed us, giving us supernatural powers and supernatural beauty, much as the song has been changed. Thick sounds are filtered and only the pure notes are sung."

"I didn't know you were a poet," Jane said wonderingly. Demetri glanced over at her with a smile. "Well, I did grow up listening to Homer and Ovid and all of those guys," he said with a lofty tone.

"Moment ruined," Jane said, sticking her tongue out. Demetri just smirked and seized her lips in his own. They fell into the bush, locked together, as if one. Jane moved to get even closer, and they eventually found themselves curled around each other.

Ardor gripped Demetri as he looked at Jane's eyes. They were glittering, the same passion reflected back to him. They looked at each other, fire in their gazes, before kissing again, throwing themselves into a wild frenzy.

Jane moaned as Demetri threw himself on top of her. The circlet of yew flew off of her head and landed, forgotten, in the leaf mold beside the bush. The two vampires found themselves tearing the cloth of their cloaks as they raced through the forest. Jane would wait for Demetri to reach her before lightly dancing away from his attempts to catch her, giggling. Demetri let out a playful growl before finally cornering Jane against a large maple tree.

"Got you, you little fox," he whispered in her ear. Jane smirked back at him. "Looks like you did," she responded, voice as quiet as Demetri's. The two curled around each other, forgetting about the rest of the world as they lost themselves in the other's body.

Jane felt Demetri's fingers begin to roam her body and squirmed with pleasure. She threw herself onto him and kissed him again. He responded with equal enthusiasm, his fingers flying through her hair. He broke off to marvel at the locks on her head. They were the palest brown, almost a blonde, and since she had cut it almost shoulder-length, they were curling up at the ends.

"What are you doing?" she asked, legs still curled around his waist. Demetri carefully sat down so that she was in his lap while playing with her hair. "Your hair is beautiful," he said candidly. She smiled at his comment.

"Isabella doesn't seem to think so," she said with a laugh. Demetri chuckled, remembering the moment that Isabella had noticed the cut. She had jumped slightly, staring at Jane's hairstyle, before shaking her head and giving her a look of disapproval. It had been the first time Demetri saw Isabella disappointed in her sister, even if it was sort of a joke.

"Well, right now, Isabella's opinion doesn't matter, does it?" Demetri didn't notice Jane's startled expression. "It's your hair, you can do what you want with it."

Jane nodded slowly, understanding his perspective. "Well, it's not like I did it to make her angry," she reasoned. "I just got tired of picking branches out of it."

Demetri smiled in agreement, leaning forward so that his forehead touched Jane's. "Why are we talking about your sister when this should be an 'us' moment?" he asked, pouting slightly. Jane poked his protruding lower lip with a smirk.

"Aw, is the little baby upset that I'm not thinking about him all the time?" she cooed mockingly. He glared at her halfheartedly before sighing. "Why can't I be angry at you when I want to be?" he complained, leaning forward to her again.

"Because I'm perfect," Jane said matter-of-factly before touching her lips lightly to his in a chaste kiss. "We should go back before they start searching for us," she said, sighing slightly. Demetri nodded grudgingly, allowing Jane to untangle herself from him before getting up, offering her a hand, and racing off back to their encampment with Jane at his side.

* * *

**The Jane/Demetri fluff was necessary to set up part of the next chapter. You'll see what I mean.  
**

**Hopefully I'll have another chapter ready in a week in time for my arrival back home. It'll be the last REAWAKENING chapter and a new arc should start shortly. Maybe then the actual plot will start to come in... hopefully.**

**Please review so I can get some feedback on this chapter! Until next time,**

**~Shriayle**


	13. Reawakening: The Calm Before the Storm

**So I'm not supposed to be here until July, but I still had more time left over to write. Here's an update! Last one of the arc. Next chapter will be another beginning of a new arc. But first...**

**Replies:**

**alyssamcgrath: Here is more fluff xD This time of a different nature.**

**ArabellaWhitlock: He's still a developing character, so have fun, I guess..?**

**wolfess49ers: I guess I meant for her to be more disapproving than angry xD Ah, to each their own. Caius's power was more of a whim.**

**FairyDemonDust: Glad you did :D**

**natcityjp: Thank you :) I'm happy that all of this filler is making more people happy.**

**Guest (number 1): I'm having fun :3 Here's a new update haha**

**Guest (number 2): Plot is sort of starting. I hope.**

**Guest (number 3) (or 5TailedLokiKitten I guess): I hope I don't quit soon. I will keep writing no matter how much my life goes awry :) I think.**

* * *

Renata trembled slightly when she saw the river. It was more of a creek, bloated from the fallen rain. Alec had already thrown off his cloak and was standing knee-deep in the water. He glanced back at her. She was still frozen on the riverbank.

"Renata, why are you still over there?" he called over to her. It seemed to shake her out of her stupor, for she shook her head out as if she was a dog flinging water out of his fur.

"I-I can't get into that," she stuttered out. She cursed herself silently: she must be the only vampire in the history of vampires that ever stuttered. She sat down on the riverbank, tentatively placing her bare feet in the water. Her self-loathing was swirling around her, practically tangible in the air around her.

Alec glanced at her miserable expression sympathetically. He slowly got back out of the river. "Hey, it's alright," he said, sitting next to her and placing his arm around her shoulders. She froze and looked up at him. She studied his face and saw the genuine concern in his eyes. She lowered her gaze and leaned into his half embrace.

"No, it's not," she said. "I'm the most cowardly, stupid, incapable vampire to ever exist. I don't know why I even still exist. My own uncle threw me out, just because my family was murdered and he couldn't live with the thought of living without my aunt. I was just baggage he had to get rid of before ascending to heaven or descending to hell. Who even knows anymore?! Ugh! How can you stand me? I can't stand myself!" Renata buried her face in her hands, anticipating Alec's rejection.

Instead, he had picked her up. Her head shot up from her hands and saw his determined expression. A moment later, she was weightless, and then, she was sinking. He had thrown her into the water.

She somehow propelled herself to the surface, coughing up water she had swallowed. She found herself somehow managing to stay on the surface of the river, mostly because she had the extra strength of a vampire. "Alec!" she coughed out, glaring at him.

He was glaring back at her. She shrunk away from his gaze, terrified. She heard a splash and found herself in his arms again. She tried to push herself away, tried to push him away with her shield, but her mind wouldn't obey. She couldn't bring herself to just get rid of Alec like that.

"You listen to me, Renata," he growled, gripping her shoulders as he tread water. "You are not cowardly, stupid, or incapable. I've never heard anything that was more shit in my entire existence." Renata gave him a thunderstruck look. She had never heard him use such strong language before.

"Do you know why you need to exist, Ren?" he asked. She shook her head timidly. "Because," he said, his gaze softening, "because I need you to. If you didn't exist anymore, I would follow the same path your uncle did. I would find out where you were, whichever dimension we are sent to, and immediately join you. You complete me, Renata. I need you to exist. That's why you need to hang on."

Renata shook next to him. Never before had a person felt so strongly about her. Her mother and father were power-hungry, her uncle a vampire, her aunt a deceased one. No one wanted to talk to her, but after they all died, she realized how alone she was and wrapped herself in despair, even after meeting Alec and learning about mates.

She could feel her despair begin to lift. She looked at Alec straight in the eyes and saw love buried deep in their gaze. Alec wasn't an emotional person the way Jane was; he was more subtle, more careful about showing himself. That didn't mean he didn't feel anything, the way she had thought he didn't. She had thought that he was only putting up with her because he had to, as her mate. Now, she realized that he was her everything, and his family was hers.

She sank into his embrace, sobbing without tears, emotionally drained. Alec said nothing more, instead just swimming out of the water with her still in his arms. Once they were on solid ground, she curled up on the ground, shaking. Alec carefully tucked a lock of her hair behind an ear before stroking her arm comfortingly. She readjusted herself so that her head was leaning on his leg, and he just put an arm around hers. He grabbed his cloak and covered her with it, despite knowing that she really didn't need it for warmth or anything.

Renata watched the light give way to comforting darkness from behind her eyelids. She felt herself relax, eyes still closed. They sat in silence.

"Alec?" she asked timidly. He pulled the cloak away from her face. She squinted in the sudden light change.

"Ah, sorry," he said, which she just responded with a tentative smile. The expression sent fireworks through his body in a way that he hadn't thought possible. He swallowed unnecessarily.

"What is it, Renata?" he asked softly.

She struggled with how to phrase her question. "What was your childhood like? Is Alec really your name?" she asked nervously, hoping that she didn't mess up somehow.

Alec smiled at her, immediately making her feel relaxed. "I was born Alexander, after the Greek leader," he said in a low tone. "But the villagers thought that my mother was heathen enough, since she was Jewish, not Catholic. They thought her a monster. They thought that Jane and I were monsters. Witches. But Isabella protected us. She was our real mother, I guess, even though she's only two years older than us. Isa would go into the forest and gather wood to sell for our food, because the Church claimed all of our land, saying we weren't worthy of it because of Mother. The villagers loved Isa and would help her out. That was our life."

Renata giggled when he unknowingly switched from 'Isabella' to 'Isa.' She didn't think that Isa was a very grown-up pet name for a seemingly grown-up person, taking care of her siblings the way she had.

Alec noticed the musical laughter and felt his dead heart leap a bit inside of him. "What's so funny?" he asked, ignoring the feeling.

"You called her Isa just now," Renata said, shrugging as well as she could lying down. Alec's eyes widened in realization before he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess I did," he muttered, looking away in embarrassment.

"I thought it was cute," Renata blurted out. Alec's eyes widened and the two looked away from each other awkwardly. Renata felt her face heat up but knew that she couldn't actually blush. _Curse these phantom feelings_, she thought, wanting to fan her face with her hands but knowing it would look weird, especially to Alec.

Alec was just embarrassed that he had called his older sister the pet name she had long ago in front of his mate, the one who was just beginning to open up. He cleared his throat nervously.

"...so," Renata said softly. Alec flopped himself on the ground, landing with a _THUMP!_ on the ground. "So." he said in response.

Renata picked herself up from him and timidly readjusted herself to that she lay next to him. He was staring at the sky, blinking occasionally out of habit. She marveled at his eyelashes; they were as long as Jane's, despite being a lot darker. His hair was an odd color, an in-between of Jane's and Isabella's shades. It was a chestnut color with slight blond overtones. Renata thought it was a beautiful color, much better than her plain dark brown hair.

Alec closed his eyes, sighing. He felt something at his side. He opened his eyes and glanced over. Renata had curled up next to him, her head on his right shoulder, eyes closed. He smiled slightly and hugged her with the one arm.

They lay comfortably, Alec watching the clouds go by, Renata at his side. It was how Isabella found them later, before quietly leaving to give the two a moment. It was also how Jane found Alec when Caius asked her to find him. The teasing didn't end for weeks.

* * *

Jane wandered into a town with Alec by her side. It was one of the rare occasions in which neither really wanted to be with his or her mate. The ties they had with their mates were nowhere near as strong as their sibling bond, a bond that Marcus had thought impossible, especially with the Didyme debacle. Had Aro and Didyme been as tightly bonded as the two twins were, Aro would have become as comatose as Marcus once was. As it was, he hadn't changed whatsoever.

Alec's eyes widened as they entered the filthy village. Corpses lay everywhere, stinking the air with a putrid scent. Jane's eyes narrowed when they detected a kind of rot. Not the usual rotting human scent, but a more sickly scent. She looked around wildly until she found a body by itself.

She walked over to it. Her eyes widened. "A-Alec!" she shrieked. Alec was immediately at her side, and upon seeing what she saw, he swallowed.

The human corpse was male. It was naked, but that wasn't what disgusted Jane so much. The body was covered with dark lumps, some the size of apples. There was an odd dark ring around some, but the smell that Jane had detected rose almost lazily from the bulges. The bumps clustered around the corpse's underarms, but were still all around its body.

Alec noticed a few black specks wandering around on the corpse. _Are those fleas?_ he thought. He noticed more crawling out of the corpse of a rat nearby. They tried to leap at him, but he managed to spit out some of his venom quickly enough to send them reeling back to the ground. _We can all see who the better bloodsucker is, hmm?_ he thought wryly.

"What _is_ it, brother?" Jane asked, horrified. "Well, obviously, it was a human. Male, maybe halfway through its life," Alec responded sarcastically, timidly kicking the body. Jane shot him a scathing look. "You know what I mean," she hissed.

A clergyman was walking by and saw the unnaturally beautiful children. He was dazzled momentarily before he gathered his pride and walked over to them.

"I'm afraid you came at the wrong time, children," he said loftily. Jane shot Alec an annoyed look, to which Alec responded with a chuckle. The clergyman didn't notice and prattled on. "The plague has reached us," he droned. "We believe that the world will end. This is only the beginning. The wars will reach soon, and pestilence will run rampant."

"I see, man of God," Alec responded, beginning to become annoyed. "We will move on from this village."

The clergyman nodded vigorously. "You must," he stressed. He walked away, heart light because he saved the two beautiful children from a horrid death.

Jane snorted at his ignorance. "Let's go, Alec," she growled, eyes blackened. "There's nothing good here. Everyone's got this plague thing, even that oddity. I smelled it on him."

"I have a functioning nose, Jane," Alec grumbled in response. "I smelt it too."

"Good. Then you know that we need to leave." Jane dragged Alec off despite his protests at the undignified manner with which she treated him.

* * *

"I'm scared, Isa."

Isabella glanced up at the speaker in question. It was Alec, who was twitching slightly and glancing around nervously.

"What is it?" she asked, fixing his cloak. He swatted her hands away, groaning. "Stop it."

He tried to get back in front of her as she paced around aimlessly. "Isabella, just listen to me!" She stopped abruptly when he raised his voice. She slowly turned her head towards him. He never yelled at anyone about anything, so she could tell he was being completely serious. He looked panicked and was still glancing everywhere.

"What is it?" she repeated, this time keeping her eyes locked onto his.

"I-I think that the apocalypse is coming," he muttered. He realized how stupid he sounded and dejectedly kicked the flat ground.

Isabella said nothing. "Go on," she urged. Alec's hopes raised slightly. He had told Jane the same thing, but she had just scoffed and flounced away.

"Well," he began, "when Jane and I went to feed at the first village, we came across a horrendous disease."

Isabella gestured for him to continue by flicking her wrist. "It seems to have spread across Christendom. It's virtually everywhere, Isa."

Alec rubbed the tops of his arms as if he were somehow cold. "Everyone, those that were sick and those that were healthy, was hungry. They were starving. They were dying either of starvation or plague. Storms have been brewing. Nothing is the same from when we were alive. Isabella, I know I sound insane or something, but I think that Armageddon is coming."

Isabella was silent for a moment. "Have you told Aro yet?" she asked after an extended time. Alec bit his lip and shook his head.

"Okay..." she began pacing around again. "Just go to Renata, please. I'll see if the earth begins to quake and see who the anti-Christ will come. But Alec," she called out as he began to walk away. He turned back around.

"Know that the oceans of blood may come from our war. Can you live with living through the end of our world?"

Alec swallowed visibly and walked away without giving her an answer.

* * *

**Hope this lived up to your expectations :) ~Shriayle**


	14. Apocalypse: Stirring

**Well, I'm back home and back writing in large time blocks late at night. Haha.  
**

**If there are any mistakes, please let me know. Also, for the next few chapters, I'm going to need at least 6 OCs for the Romanian coven. If you have a character, please PM me (not a review!). Please note that only one OC will be allowed to have a gift, so yours might be stripped of his/her power.**

**Anyhow- Replies:**

**wolfess49ers: Well, I've got a few gifted planned, but I'm not sure about the rest of the coven. As is stated by Meyer, the Romanians had a newborn army, but there will be key characters from that army that will be important. I can't really give any more away without spoiling ;)**

**Slytherin of the Sea: I will do a few more historical events, but they'll probably be the ones that everyone will recognize. The one other event that I know for sure will happen is the Great Depression. Don't ask how it will come to play, but just remember that it will.**

**A few more things: I will be leaving the poll for one more chapter. By next chapter, I will change the poll. What will it be on? It will be about which fanfic I should write next (or simultaneously). It won't be written for a couple of months, but I've got skeletal ideas for other stories. They won't be Twilight, as my profile mentions I want to write at least one fanfic for all of the book fandoms I know. The next story I write will either be a Harry Potter or a Percy Jackson thing. Or maybe another one. I'm not sure yet. This is why I need a week to think about this xD**

**Finally, thank for for 100+ follows and 50+ reviews! The first fanfic I wrote was a Maximum Ride fanfic (which wasn't well written, as I know perfectly well) and it barely got one follow, so this positive feedback was a welcome difference. (what is that grammar.) Anyhow, here's the story.**

* * *

Alec and Jane were ready for battle. Apparently. Not all of the vampires agreed with Aro's decision. Not even his mate.

"Are you _serious_, Aro?!" Sulpicia was following him around as he strode purposefully through the trees. He was searching for the twins to tell them that battle was coming, that they were prepared for this, that they prepared for this for centuries, that the event they were waiting for was soon to come. "Aro, listen to me!" Sulpicia shrieked unattractively as she hobbled over a tree root. "Aro!" she whined.

Aro sighed slightly before turning to his mate. As much as he loved her, for her beautiful face, for her flowing hair, for her childlike innocence, for once, she was truly annoying him. "Sulpicia," he sighed. She immediately quieted down. "Please stop talking."

She pouted. Athenodora's bell-like laughter echoed from farther away. "Shut it, Athena!" Sulpicia screeched towards the noise. The laughter increased in intensity. Sulpicia pouted again.

Aro began to walk away more quickly, as if he was trying to out-walk his mate, but Sulpicia caught up. "Aro, please, just _listen_. Jane and Alec are barely able to control their skills. Alec can only control a mid-level mist of his numbing. Jane can only use one spear of pain at a time. They need to be trained more. They need to upgrade their skills. They need-"

"I can't just send them into the mortals' war," Aro growled. "It's starting, I know it, but the Romanians will be coming while they're being trained off elsewhere. Sulpicia, I've been collaborating with Caius about this for centuries; as soon as Alec, Jane, and Isabella were discovered, we've been formulating this plan. We've been waiting for the Romanians to strike." Aro grabbed his mate's arm. Sulpicia weakly protested, tugging her arm away, but he clung on harder. She felt the diamond-hard flesh creak a bit and cried out.

Aro immediately released her arm, gave her an apologetic look, and walked away, running his hand through his hair. "Sulpicia," he murmured, holding his hand out to her. She gave him a mutinous look but eventually took it in her own. He felt her thoughts fill his mind, but he tried to get rid of them so he could just fully enjoy her company.

They walked off. Soon, Athenodora was grimacing at what she heard. Isabella, who had been with her the entire time, merely sighed to herself and stood up. "I'm going to find my siblings and let them know. I hope Jane and Demetri aren't going at it too badly." Athenodora groaned aloud.

"Don't say that ever again." Isabella chuckled at Athenodora's reaction before walking away into the brush, leaving Caius's mate behind, disturbed by the images of the scenes she could see and couldn't see.

* * *

Jane tore through the forest. This was actually rather typical, but this time, it was much different. Her pupils were dilated, and her expression resembled that of a hunted animal. Sobs randomly shook her small figure. She collapsed quite a few times, but always staggered back up and continued on with a more haggard appearance with each step. She was searching for someone. Someone in particular.

She herself didn't know who she was looking for. She was just following her body's wishes as her mind raced. It wasn't just running through thoughts as it usually did when she ran through, whimsical and carefree. This time, her mind was just repeating Aro's last words to her as if it were a broken record.

_"You're going to war. Be prepared."_

Normally, the idea of conflict didn't affect her so badly. The idea of tearing off limbs and setting them ablaze, all while shoving 'pain' through others' veins and causing them unbelievable agony made her shudder only slightly, not completely break down. But she couldn't forget what Alec had told her either.

_"The end of the world is near. The mortals have fallen to Famine and Plague. It is only a matter of time before War ravages the land and spills oceans of blood, just like when the mortals' corpses burst into flesh and bodily fluids. Jane, this is your only warning. Be ready."_

She wasn't usually a religious person, but Alec was sensible, albeit God-fearing even as a vampire. His religious streak was beginning to fade as time passed, but it would only be centuries more before he truly relinquished that belief. The fact that he believed in Armageddon so strongly wasn't as frightening as his conviction was. The end of the world was coming.

Jane felt herself begin to hyperventilate. The action didn't cause the racing heartbeats and shortness of breath that it did in the humans. The psychological nature of hyperventilation was thoroughly part of her; she was completely panicked as she raced around the forest meaninglessly.

"I-Isa!" she sobbed out. She hadn't meant to; the name had slipped out of her lips. Subconsciously, she had been seeking out her mother figure. She called out again and again. "ISABELLA!"

Something suddenly caught hold of her. She froze in time; her limbs stopped working, her legs stopped running, her breathing stopped, her eyelids refused to blink. She whipped around after recovering; Demetri was holding onto her, looking concerned. "What's wrong, love?" he asked.

"N-NO!" She shoved a surprised Demetri away. "Not you. Not now. Not now." Her words grew quieter and quieter, and she felt herself fall down but continuously scramble to get away. She needed to get away; she couldn't let them see her like that. Especially him.

"Jane, I don't understand," Demetri tried to say, but she had already gotten to her feet and started to run again. "Jane!" he called after her. She didn't respond. "JANE!" He began to pursue her again.

"No! Not now! I don't want you to see me!" she screamed after him. His footsteps became slower, and he stopped and stared after her helplessly. He couldn't seem to get to her. She refused to listen. Worried, he slowly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. He suddenly realized that she called out for Isabella's presence for her understanding, her willingness to help others. Shaking his head, he ran to find her, to alert her of Jane's frenzy.

"What?!" Isabella was shell-shocked, to say the least. "Why would she... never mind that, where did she go?" Demetri barely gave her directions when she darted off into the woods to find her wayward sister.

Jane ran, trying to leave her thoughts behind. The more she thought about them, the faster she tried to run, when she realized that she had found the maximum in even her vampire speed and couldn't force herself to go any faster. Even then, Alec's and Aro's words echoed in the recesses of her mind.

_You're going to war. The end of the world is coming. The mortals have fallen to Famine and Plague. Be prepared. _It is only a matter of time before War ravages the land and spills oceans of blood, just like when the mortals' corpses burst into flesh and bodily fluids. _You're going to war. Be ready. Be prepared. The mortals have fallen. The end of the world is coming. Be prepared._

She screamed an unearthly scream. She grabbed her head and collapsed, finally, twitching and heaving as she cried tearlessly. "I'm not ready!" she whimpered. "I don't know what to do if the end of the world is coming. I don't know how to prepare. I can't do this." She felt herself begin to shake uncontrollably. "ISABELLA!" she shrieked before curling up into a fetal position. "Isabella," she repeated, this time at a whisper.

Her sister found her lying on the ground, sobbing and mumbling her name. "Jane, Jane, I'm here, what's wrong?" Isabella asked frantically, grabbing her sister and shaking her. "Jane!"

Jane turned her head towards her sister. "Isa?" she asked, sounding completely vulnerable.

"Yes, Jane, it's me." Isabella gently moved a lock of Jane's short hair behind her ear. "What is it?"

"A-Alec said that the world is going to end with this war. We're Aro's anti-Christs. We're his secret weapon. He's going to unleash the apocalypse with us. I can't be prepared for that. I can't." She buried her head into Isabella's shoulder. Isabella was momentarily frozen in surprise; Jane hadn't done anything that was remotely as affectionate since she was turned, or maybe since she was a young girl. Isabella soon relaxed and fully embraced her sister. Jane just trembled against her shoulder.

"I'm not ready, Isa. I'm not ready to go to war."

"Jane, I know you are." Isabella held Jane closer to her. "Don't worry, Jane. As thick-headed as Aro sometimes seems, he knows what he's doing. If he thinks you're ready, then you are really ready."

Jane timidly looked up from Isabella's shoulder. "Really?" she asked doubtfully.

Isabella merely sighed and patted Jane's head again. "Yes, Jane. Really."

* * *

Alec responded to Aro's ultimatum more calmly. Or at least, it looked like that.

"Ren, I don't know if I can do this." He was pacing around trees at vampire walking speed. Renata was sitting in one of the trees and watched as her mate walked by the tree over and over and over again.

"Alec, calm down," Renata tried to reason with him. "You can do it. I know you can." She cursed her cheesiness under her breath.

Alec heard her faint whispers and smirked slightly. "Ladies shouldn't know those words," he called up. Renata glared down at him before huffing and crossing her arms in a mock-angry manner. He chuckled before continuing to pace on. "Seriously though, Renata," he said again with a sigh. "If my inklings are correct, then the entire world will be changed because of us. Things will happen and people will die. They're going to die, Renata!"

"Well, hopefully people don't die, just vampires." Renata shrugged at Alec's exasperated glance. "It's true. But you can't control that that plague of yours isn't going to kill either. Also, even if it wasn't the Armageddon or whatever you think it will be, people will still have died. The plague will kill. The mortal's war will kill. You're being the 'anti-Christ' or whatever doesn't change that at all."

Alec glared at her. "You're not exactly an optimist about this, are you?" he grumbled under his breath.

Renata cocked an eyebrow at him. She had long since discarded her timidity, and with Isabella's help, her confidence had grown. She wasn't the little girl that hid behind her uncle anymore; she was her own person.

To be honest, she wasn't sure when she had emerged from her shell. However, she knew it was partially because of the vampire underneath her. Alec had been a perpetual source of...something ineffable. Something that she always needed, though she hadn't known at the time.

The aforementioned vampire sighed, his hair flying up as a response to his exhale. "I'm not ready for war," he admitted to her. Renata leaped out of the tree.

"No one really is, Alec," she told him. "We just need to hope that we are as prepared as we can be in the time we have."

Alec nodded at her wisdom and walked off with her by his side, his mind still racing.

* * *

Caius leaned back against a tree, his eyes closed. His mind sped through all of his possible war strategies against the Romanians, especially the ways he could integrate Isabella and Alec and Jane. Unbeknownst to Aro, Isabella's powers were far greater than merely stripping others' shields while keeping her own up. She confided in Marcus and Caius that she could see just a glimpse others' thoughts, if they were under her shield. Caius planned on utilizing this ability completely in the upcoming battle.

It would be a battle for the books. Or something. Marcus was always the intellectual brother. Isabella had described it to him once: Marcus was the thinker, Aro the judge, and Caius the executor. Together, they made up a powerful figurehead for the Volturi. The Guard existed to be the body that the head controlled. Without the body, the head was nothing. Without the head, the body couldn't function. They were essentially symbiotic creatures.

Especially in war. The Guard didn't fight unless the brothers commanded them to, and by brothers, Caius meant himself. Aro was useless in the midsts of battle, preferring to monologue and drone on and on while his comrades were being torn down around him. Marcus was once a legendary warrior and was the sole defender of the unspoken laws before Caius was discovered and Didyme was 'mysteriously' killed.

Caius shook his head lightly to free his mind of that claptrap. There was no need to think about the past, the histories that Aro gathered and carefully remolded to match his schemes. It was clear as the sunlight on their skin that Aro had something to do with Didyme's demise, but only Marcus was blind to the truth. The disgusting, heart-wrenching truth (if they had hearts at all, that is).

What kind of world was it when a brother tears his sister to pieces for thinking independently? Caius himself was disturbed by this turn of events, and it took a lot to make him feel even slightly squeamish. Athenodora, his _mate_, as Didyme was Marcus's, was also an independent, sanguine woman. If she ever whispered into Caius's ear of leaving in the protection of the night, she would be the next to be shredded and turned to kindling. Caius couldn't just accept a world without his other; even though he was known for his ruthlessness, she unlocked his 'human' feelings of attachment and possessiveness. Without her, he would be blinded in the night, and the fleeting light of the stars wouldn't be bright enough to rid his soul of the shadows that would lurk.

Caius growled to himself as he tried to get rid of his thoughts. It was bad enough when Marcus confided in him about his feelings, but when he was creating these thoughts himself..!

"Damn it!" he shouted suddenly, smacking his temple with the heel of his hand. "Stop it, stop it, stop it..!"

"Master?"

Caius whipped around, eyes ablaze. Alec was standing in front of him with Renata right behind him. They were both giving him a look of curiosity. "Is something wrong?" Alec ventured again.

Caius ran a hand through his hair and shut his eyes, gritting his teeth. "Yes. I'm fine. Just... get out of here. Get ready for something else."

Alec nodded uncertainly. "Alright, we'll go off to find Aro, I guess..."

"No!" Alec jumped at the sudden outburst. Renata made a small squeak and hid herself behind her mate. Caius's eyes glanced over them, over Alec's sudden protective stance and Renata's complete trust in him.

"Just... go to Marcus. Leave Aro alone for a bit."

Alec understood his implication and made a sound of agreement. He gently directed Renata away and the two ran off silently into the trees.

Caius sighed and walked on.

* * *

**I am so done writing about this freaking forest, for God's sake. **

**Until next time! Probably like next week I hope. ~Shriayle**


	15. Apocalypse: War

**Oh look, a new chapter. For anyone who is curious, I have no set update schedule as of yet; I just upload once the chapter is complete. As I have said before, the previous poll on Isabella's mate is now CLOSED with apparently Jasper as the most popular. I'll see if I can make it work, but it will require a bit of plot revision.  
**

**Finally some action is hither! Thanks for waiting it out for a bit.**

**Thanks to Arabella Whitlock and I am in Loki's Army for their characters, both of which make a debut in this chapter.**

**Replies:**

**I am in Loki's Army: Thanks for all of your support~~**

**FairyDemonDust: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY idk what I'm yay-ing about but YAY.**

**Slytherin of the Sea: Yay for bonding! And yes, I think Caius is an underrated character in most fanfics. He deserves more fleshing out, and I'm not talking about the Caius/Bella slashfics. We don't speak of the slashfics here.**

* * *

They were running. Their feet hit the ground in muffled thumps, creating a veritable stampede as they whisked their way through the land. And yet, their speed rivaled light itself, and the power they threw into each stride did not reverberate through the ground in the way another creature's feet might. They were the perfect hunters, carved and molded to be the silence that every child fears at night.

They dressed the part as well. They wore cloaks with varying shades of the color black, the darkest figures spearheading the rest of the formation. They wore dark clothing underneath as well, and the only color that could be seen were two pinpricks of red gleaming from where their eyes would be.

Some were women. Others were men. The villagers that saw them weren't quite sure how many of each because of how quickly they came and left. Their story was recorded everywhere, the story of the whispers of the night that left as soon as the sunlight touched the land.

Soon, legends arose around the shadowy figures with glowing red irises that darted across the land like a pack of wolves. In what came to be known as Flanders, stories of the Oude Rode Ogen arose, telling of a demonic spirit that favored the form of a red-eyed dog. Elsewhere, the old pagan myths of hellhounds serving the Underworld arose once again, striking fear into the hearts of Christians certain that they would go to Heaven, not Asphodel. Some people caught a glimpse of the pale white figures underneath the dark clothes they wore and claimed that the Kirkonväki had been reborn.

However, the actual figures ran on whilst bickering under their breaths. Aro wasn't sure why they had gone through the island nations east of Britain. He thought it a huge waste of time to circle around their targets when they were _right there, damn it Caius!_ Caius ignored his brother's mutters and continued on his track. Marcus watched the argument with mild amusement.

"Why are we still going through these islands?!" Aro hissed to Caius once, while they hunted. Caius said nothing, but stared towards the Slavic lands. The Romanians had been amassing an army, but Caius could see no sign of them. "Brother, please tell me."

"We are greatly outnumbered," Caius said. "The Romanians are working to restore their old glory by recruiting too many for us to handle. We must throw them off before striking to reduce casualties."

"Casualties, brother?" Caius's eyes darted over to Aro's horrified gaze. "Do you really think this will come to such a level? Destruction? You can't be serious."

"Aro, Alec has been thinking of this entire venture as proof of the apocalypse. Some of the others can see where he is coming from, the misguided child. We must try our hardest to make sure the world doesn't really end."

Aro sighed in exasperation. "I'd heard of his thoughts, but I'd hoped he stopped believing in that nonsense."

Caius shot a look towards Aro. "Keep in mind, that is my apprentice you speak of," he growled.

"Your apprentice, Caius?" Aro stared at him in disbelief. "I wouldn't think that you would be so willing to take one on."

Caius growled again, this time with no words. He turned his back to Aro and walked on to find more prey.

"We will be arriving in Romanian territory soon, Aro," he called back. "Give it another day's travel. We will be there, and we will immediately fight. That's the way the world works."

Aro snorted as he watched Caius strut off. "Sure, brother," he said quietly, smiling to himself. "Of course. You are the strategist, after all."

* * *

"We're here."

Jane raised an eyebrow at Aro's announcement. "Pardon me, but how in the world can you tell?" she asked. She raised her arms around her. "It looks like the same forest over here."

Alec laughed quietly at Aro's expression. The self-proclaimed King of the Volturi looked extremely perturbed at Jane's question. "It just is, alright?" Aro responded.

"His language is just taking a back seat, isn't it?" Jane muttered to Alec, who burst out in another wave of laughter. This time, Renata and Demetri joined in.

Aro sighed at his guards' collective immaturity. He wasn't the only one slightly annoyed by them: Isabella's eyes kept darting over to them and trying to calm them down silently. It didn't work. She sighed and rolled her eyes as they continued to laugh and dance about in blissful ignorance.

After trekking even further into the Transylvanian woods, they saw a castle far in the distance. Isabella instinctively drew back to rejoin her siblings.

Jane's nose wrinkled. "Do you smell that?" she whispered. Isabella nodded minutely; the sweet scents of other vampires were washing over their noses. They were more saccharine than anything; they smelled too sweet, sweet enough for even a human to smell. "There are so many," she murmured. Alec grimaced. His gift was the only that could even fathom attacking that many at once.

"Keep watch," Caius barked at them softly. "They could be anywhere, especially that Ramiro girl."

Marcus's lip curled slightly. "Don't tell me that she's still alive, brother," Marcus growled. Caius nodded. "They kept her, for whatever reason."

"She's bound to Vladimir in a somewhat familial manner. They see each other as brother and sister even though he was her creator," Marcus said. Caius gave a dismissive noise, but Isabella kept that in mind.

"Are there any abilities we need to worry about?" she asked Marcus.

He thought for a second. "Well, we would need to worry about it, but I don't think you need to. You have your shield as protection."

Isabella nodded to herself, storing the snippet of information in her mind.

The group walked silently on until they entered a clearing. There, two other vampires were standing in the middle of it, looking in the opposite direction. Both were female.

Caius snarled softly. "There she is," he said. Isabella looked at the girl he was fixated on. She had waist-length black hair and her back was to the approaching vampires. She looked around Isabella's age.

Isabella quietly shielded the entire group. The girl next to the first had long, light-brown hair, just a shade darker than Jane's. She seemed older than her companion, but also more concerned; her posture was stiffer and she was glancing around, her head flicking back and forth.

Aro glanced over to Caius, who gestured him forward faux-encouragingly. Aro sighed before approaching the two. "Delyla? Paula?"

The two whipped around, startled. "You said they would come from that direction!" the second hissed. The first, Delyla, snarled right back before looking at the group.

"Aro," she called out smoothly. Sulpicia growled from within the group, Corin and Chelsea holding her back with one hand each. Delyla paid them no mind. "We heard tell that you were coming."

"You mean that _you_ heard tell," Aro corrected with a sly smile. "Where were you hiding?"

"Christendom is an interesting place," she said dryly. "But the new rumors of the Scandinavian and English creatures spread everywhere. Did you think that we wouldn't hear?"

Aro chuckled, but his eyes were anything but amused. "Well, I'd heard them, but I didn't think they would spread so far."

Delyla tilted her head slightly. "You didn't think I just stay here in Romania, now did you?" she asked teasingly. Growls were ripping through Sulpicia's body now, and she was trembling with rage.

Isabella gave Corin a quick glance. The other vampire nodded minutely and began to try to cheer Sulpicia up and calm her down, but it was to no avail. This Delyla character really knew that the way to incite battle and blame it on the Volturi was to annoy just one. Just talking to Aro could incite jealousy in Sulpicia; flirting with him, no matter how jokingly, would enrage her.

Aro finally noticed his mate's struggles. He retreated, giving Delyla a sharp look, and wrapped an arm around her shaking figure. Immediately she calmed down and relaxed. Isabella let out a breath of relief.

Marcus sighed before taking over. "Delyla, why are you and Paula even here?" he asked. "The figurative bone we have to pick is with your leaders, not his coven members. You should leave before it is too late."

Paula finally spoke up. "Oh, is that right, Marcus?" She strutted forward, all semblance of timidity lost. "Just Stefan and Vladimir? Is that what I heard?" Her voice was as high-pitched as a yowling cat. Isabella grimaced.

"Yes, Paula," Marcus said. Paula slowly and deliberately raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" she said again.

Delyla's lip curled away from her teeth. "I've heard enough," she snarled. She snapped her arms out to the sides, and from all around the clearing, hungry growls and sneers arose. Marcus's eyes widened as an army of a hundred-odd newborns emerged from the forest's depths.

Paula began to laugh. It wasn't a sweet, cute giggle; no, she was cackling like a hyena while somehow still sounding like bells. "Did you expect that, Aro?" she sneered at him, smirking. Delyla giggled from beside her.

Isabella felt a darkness emanate from Paula as the older vampire stared at Aro. The darkness reached out like a claw, but fell short, ending at Isabella's shield. Out of curiosity, Isabella focused on what the darkness was.

She allowed herself to get engulfed by it only slightly.

Voices whispered, "The flames, the flames are still there!" Cackles from all around her. Shadows formed around her, wrapping around her body. As it rose, it felt as though small insects were buzzing in her ears and climbing her legs. "Death," the voices said. "Blood." They got closer, she could_ feel_ them get closer, but they sounded quieter: "_We will die in rivulets of blood, filling our orifices and flooding the ground._"

Isabella drew herself away with a start. Jane heard Isabella's audible gasp and glanced over. "What is it, Isa?" Jane asked quietly.

"She's a dark figure," Isabella growled. "And she was trying to change Aro. She's the anti-Christ that Alec feared, it seems. Her gift reduces reason to flailing insanity. She's the one to beat."

Marcus glanced over. "That's Vladimir's mate you're talking about. Paula King, Tyrant of the Mind."

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "What kind of character would let such an evil thing get close enough to him to even fathom having her as a mate?" she asked loudly, trying to get a reaction out of Paula. It worked. The other vampire's eyes snapped over to Isabella and narrowed. Isabella felt the darkness flood the shield again, but she refused to back down, adding more and more layers of protection to her mind.

Paula's eyes widened and her attack ceased as she realized that Isabella was somehow impervious to her gift. She looked genuinely uncertain this time.

Aro growled, staring away from the army and from Paula. The army had stopped moving and was surrounding both the Romanian coven and the Volturi guard. Two more figures had emerged, along with Delyla.

"Where's Delyla?" Alec whispered to Isabella. Confused, she gestured to her. "There's no one there, Isabella," Alec said, slightly panicked.

"Another mental gift," Aro breathed. "She can hide in crowds."

Isabella noticed how the girl was staring incredulously at Isabella. Isabella smirked at the Romanians.

A fair-haired man approached them. He had oddly dusty skin, as though he allowed himself to disintegrate in a room. "Aro, my…friend," he called out. Another woman stuck close to him, a dark-haired woman with the odd, powdery skin and beet-red eyes.

"Stefan," Aro said with a slight bow.

"What is this about?" Caius asked, gesturing at the army that surrounded the two factions.

Another man, the dark-haired one, smiled smugly. "This is our little group of soldiers, manufactured to beat you, of course."

Santiago growled from behind Aro. "Newborns, Master?" he hissed out uncertainly.

Stefan shooed away the woman that was clinging to him, much to her chagrin. "Yes, tell your little _pet_ there that there are quite a few newborns here." He smirked at the Volturi's discomfort, failing to realize that it was carefully calculated discomfort they were exuding.

Vladimir, the dark-haired vampire, laughed out loud. It was a cruel laugh he gave, a laugh that promised darkness and fear, not unlike what the humans that the Dacian coven 'ruled' over felt. "Do you fear death?" he purred. Paula giggled from next to him. He wrapped an arm around her upon hearing her mirth.

Aro smiled lightly, as though they were just two friends exchanging goods. "Of course not," he replied. "We are already dead, Vladimir."

Stefan snarled, all semblance of amusement gone from his face. "Well, then," he growled, "we'll just have to kill you again, won't we?" A twisted smile stretched across his face. "We'll tear those limbs to shreds, carefully pulling each little string off of the bones"—he took one step towards the Volturi coven—"then we'll snap those bones in _half_"—he took another—"and then we'll rip the hair out"—yet another—"and maybe we'll take out those pretty little eyeballs of yours"—the final step (he was now directly in Aro's face)—"and we'll set the whole pile of you on fire!" He gave a wild laugh while looking at Aro's stony visage. "How'd you like that, you little лайна?"

Aro just smiled again, infuriating Stefan as well as making the army surrounding them restless. "Why, my dear Stefan," Aro purred before grabbing Stefan's throat, to Vladimir's alarm and Caius's amusement, "I will gladly take you up on that offer."

And with that, the war began.

* * *

**For those who are curious, that odd foreign word a few paragraphs up is apparently Bulgarian for "shit." Thank you Google. (If there are any Romanian readers or if anyone is well-versed in Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, or Serbian and has a better word, please tell me. I'm actually kinda curious. Also I used Bulgarian because for whatever reason I think Bulgaria is an awesome country xD Prolly because Harry Potter tbh)**

**Until next time! ~Shriayle**


	16. Apocalypse: Death

**These battle chapters are much shorter than some of the other chapters (hi chapter 11) but they have a lot of action so it's worth it, I guess?  
**

**I have a new poll up! What story should I write next? Keep in mind, I probably won't start posting until this story reaches around 20-25 chapters, and knowing my schedule that could take freaking forever. If you're expecting ideas for another Twilightfic, then sorry, but I have no ideas for this world after this story is over. I mean, I won't deal with the wolves, but I suck at writing pure romance and that would be really bad. As it is, I'll probably write a Harry Potter or Percy Jackson fanfic next (both have choices on the poll) so if you can help me choose one then I will be over the moon. I do have multiple for each, but I'll probably still only write one story for the fandom. It's my goal to have at least one story for the fandoms I've listed on my profile; I don't want to get distracted from that.**

**MOVING ON.**

**The Apocalypse arc might be the shortest yet. There are only a few more important plot points to deal with so... yeah. I don't need any more OCs though; I've come up with the rest myself. Again, thanks to Arabella Whitlock and I am in Loki's Army for theirs.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: DEATH DEATH DEEEAAATH :D In all seriousness, thanks for letting me use you (that sounded so wrong). Haha, really? That was an interesting coincidence**

**vxgt: The plot will be picking up. If I drew out one of those middle school plot maps, the plot of this story would look like an exponential function's graph.**

**alyssamcgrath: The darkness is within...the Romanian coven xD Although Jane's gift is rather dark in and of itself.**

**I am in Loki's Army: Delyla was fun to play with :P **

**Slytherin of the Sea: This might not live up to your expectations, then :3**

**natcityjp: I might play with the plot to make them meet sooner if I even want to give her a mate at all. I'm still trying to make it work, mostly because her later actions are based on her current personality, but when vampires meet their mates, they go through a huge metamorphosis. That's why Jane is more tender-hearted now and Alec is more outspoken. That was supposed to happen. Didn't really but eehhhh.**

* * *

The Volturi clustered together, facing outwards, all snarling. In the moment, it didn't matter if one was guard or triumvirate or mate; they were all working together to bring down the tyranny of the Dacians.

Isabella reached her shield over the others and gave Caius the signal that said so. Caius nodded back to her and turned his attention back to the Dacian army. His gaze darkened and he subconsciously moved in front of Athenodora, who just rolled her eyes at him. _Typical with those two_, Alec thought to himself.

Marcus had simply prepared to go to battle by crouching slightly, and Aro was leaning back while keeping his hands forward in case he could grab another's and absorb their thoughts. Chelsea was hanging back; her power lay more in defense than offense. Renata was staying right with her, while Afton was casting his invisibility over them. Soon, all three figures were gone from everyone's sight except for Isabella's. Santiago and Corin were hovering protectively by Aro. Jane and Alec were next to Isabella, Demetri flanking them. Felix stood next to Alec, his eyes narrowed and staring into the crowd of vampires in front of him.

"Well, this'll be fun," Jane whispered. Isabella smirked.

Stefan walked around the circle, staring intently at each guard. Sulpicia clung to Aro further, but he gently batted her away. The Romanian chuckled in dark amusement.

"Only twelve to fight all of us, Aro?" He shook his head in mock sadness. "Did you think yourself prepared?"

Aro shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I feel that I am, even if this" (he gestured to the horde of vampires around him) "is a bit more than I expected."

Vladimir snarled. "And what do you mean about that?"

"What was he trying to say?" Jane hissed to Alec, who just shook his head exasperatedly.

Demetri smacked them both on the back of the head, to Isabella's amusement.

Paula seemed frustrated. Isabella wasn't sure why until she realized that her shield made Paula's gift completely unusable, and the vampire seemed unable to hold herself in hand-to-hand combat. _How interesting…_

Vladimir glanced over to his mate, who whispered something that made his eyes widen. "Stefan, get back," he ordered sharply.

The pale-haired vampire shrugged before stepping away.

"Warriors, forth!" A female cry resonated throughout the throng. Delyla was hiding in the midst of the horde, egging them on. Vladimir, Paula, and Stefan stepped away from the army and the Volturi.

"Cowards," Caius muttered. Aro made a sound of agreement. Caius glanced behind him and made eye contact with Isabella. He surreptitiously nodded.

"Now, Alec," Isabella whispered after receiving Caius's cue.

A thin, misty, gas-like substance appeared outside of Isabella's shield. It concentrated around Alec for a moment before wafting out over the crowd of vampires surrounding them.

Inhumane cries burst into the clamor that had already descended. For a while, the Volturi remained impassive and unaffected as Alec's fog drifted from vampire to vampire, concentrating around their minds. One by one, the hundred vampire soldiers ceased their screaming and collapsed on the ground, writhing. Their glowing red irises rolled back into their heads and they continued to jerk around underneath them.

Vladimir's eyes widened, and he tried to go into the crowd. "Delyla!" he bellowed, desperate to save his sister. Paula held him back. "You'll be wiped out the way she was!" she hissed. Her pleading fell onto deaf ears, and Stefan had to help hold him back to stop him from throwing himself into Alec's illusion.

"Alec," Isabella murmured. Her brother glanced up at her. She gave him a look. He sighed and, chastised, drew his fog away.

There was a moment of stillness after the fog dissipated. None of the vampires dared move a muscle. Doing so would start the battle anew, and this time Caius wouldn't hesitate to exploit Alec's abilities again.

It was Vladimir who ended the stand-off. Cautious as he was, the thought that Delyla was struggling in the mass of vampires surrounding the Volturi was too compelling to resist. He dove into the pile and began to shove moaning figures away. Felix, the closest to him, snorted. Demetri put one arm protectively around Jane, who protested silently.

Delyla was recovered. Her eyes appeared pure white, and if she were human, foam would have flooded her mouth. She was still weakly fighting.

"Delyla?" Vladimir asked shakily. She made no response. All she felt was the absence of everything. She couldn't hear Vladimir's voice, see his concern, feel his hand as he dragged her away, or smell the overlapping scents of the vampires. All she felt was emptiness. She let out a guttural moan that Aro noted gleefully.

"No more spying for your little one," Aro murmured. The three remaining Romanians' eyes snapped back to Aro.

"You did this," Vladimir snarled. "You did this to my little sister!" Enraged, he ran towards Aro, hands outstretched. Caius's eyes widened and he forced Athenodora and Sulpicia back even further. Marcus watched with a vague interest.

Vladimir took hold of Aro's throat amid Sulpicia's wails and desperate attempts to get to her mate. "I'll kill you!" he roared, throwing Aro against a tree and leaping on him.

Stefan took this as a chance to launch himself at Caius, who was fully expecting the attack. The pale-haired vampires fought, Stefan growling, Caius smirking back silently.

Paula just seemed to grit her teeth as she held Delyla's twitching form close to her body. She was not a fighter the way her mate and coven member were; she just relied on her ability, one that didn't work on this new group that had easily taken down their army. She wasn't sure what to do apart from protect her charge.

It is a beautiful thing to see two vampires battle to the death. Although it may sound macabre, they appeared to be dancing more than anything. Caius stepped carefully to the left as Stefan threw himself towards the Volturi. He continued to sidestep as Stefan's punches and jabs flew over his head and shoulders. Soon, he found an opening and kicked Stefan into a tree, much in the way Vladimir had done to Aro. Caius waited for Stefan to get back up before resuming his battle.

_Such a gentleman,_ Athenodora thought with a grunt. _He's being too cocky about this._

Sulpicia didn't pay any attention to Caius; her eyelids didn't even flutter when he threw Stefan into the oak. Her eyes were fixed on Aro, who was making an act of struggling against Vladimir's rage. Aro's glance darted towards his coven, and Vladimir saw his chance to lunge at him. Sulpicia whimpered and fell on the ground, sobbing. Athenodora sat down next to her and held her close, not saying a word.

Felix and Santiago had already begun dismembering the bodies around them on either side. Isabella gritted her teeth before joining him, roughly pulling the vampire army apart, limb by limb. Demetri kept hovering around Jane and kept an eye out in case Paula tried to make a run for it, and Alec was on edge, waiting for another cue to restart his gift.

Isabella heard something dim in the back of her mind. She glanced towards Caius, who was in the middle of battling Stefan. Having caught Isabella's eye, Caius gestured towards Aro.

The dark-haired member of the triumvirate was reacting with actual pain now. Vladimir had taken off his left arm and was advancing on him with malice glinting in his eyes.

"Say good bye to that pretty little mate of yours, Aro," he snarled amidst Sulpicia's cries. Aro's eyes flashed towards the Volturi once more. Vladimir assumed he was trying to catch Sulpicia's eyes and gave a twisted grin, but really, Aro was directing another girl.

Vladimir took one step closer when a girl with pale-brown hair materialized next to Aro. Isabella's eyes grew wide and Demetri just looked on helplessly as Jane stood next to Aro and gave Vladimir an innocent smile.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to go through me first," she said sweetly. She held out her hand expectantly, as if waiting for Vladimir to return the arm.

Vladimir stared at her before throwing back his head and cackling loudly. Caius glanced over from his fight to see what was going on before realizing that Aro was in grave danger and Jane was _just fucking standing there goddamn it!_

"Excuse me?" Vladimir suddenly whispered. Paula directed her insanity towards the two Volturi, but Isabella was quick to defend them before her darkness could make contact. Paula growled under her breath and drew back; it made no sense to attack if nothing happened.

"I said," Jane took one step forward, "you'll have to go through me first."

"Jane!" Demetri gave a strangled cry and started forward, but Isabella and Alec held him back. Renata whimpered from behind Afton's illusion of invisibility and Chelsea clasped a hand over her mouth with an apologetic glance.

Demetri looked at Isabella with wild eyes. "I can't just stand here!" he hissed out, glancing back to his mate desperately.

Isabella just clung tighter. "Just…keep an eye on those two," she said, directing his attention to a scowling Paula and a still Delyla. "If they get away, Aro'll have your head."

Demetri closed his eyes, let out a breath, and nodded tightly. He forced himself to stop staring at Jane and to just watch the last Dacians.

Jane watched Demetri's indecision and Isabella's direction helplessly. If only her Demetri knew, if only he knew of Caius's plan..!

Vladimir reached forward and slapped her when he saw her attention wander. "You dare look elsewhere when I'm about to kill you!" he growled. Alec was about to leap forward but tried to calm himself down as well. Isabella's chest was rising and falling in her attempt to hold herself back and _don't get out there just stay here that _damned_ whoreson laying a hand on my little sister he'll pay dearly for that that little piece of—_

Jane stared directly into Vladimir's eyes and whispered one word: "Pain."

Vladimir had one moment to ponder her word when his bones caught on fire. Shrieking, he lurched backwards, thrashing as he fell. Aro's arm flew away, but Jane caught it and returned it to her 'master.' Vladimir didn't notice that Aro had put himself back together; he was too busy writhing around and screaming in agony. His veins ruptured, his internal organs burst from pressure, his bones snapped outwards as the marrow expanded, his vision spun as his body lost the vital fluids he needed.

Paula screamed in unison and bolted forward towards her mate, Delyla forgotten. Stefan glanced over to realize that his partner, his coven mate, his best friend, had been taken down by a vampire much younger than him. He was incapacitated while Stefan was growing weaker battling Caius. The Volturi had strategized to the point in which he could easily deflect Stefan's moves back to him and anticipate what was coming next.

In a short sentence: they were doomed.

"Fall back!" Stefan shouted. Paula looked at him, eyes full of rage.

"Coward!" she screeched. "I'm not leaving Vladimir behind!"

Caius's eyes gleamed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his guards finish destroying the army. The battle was essentially over, thanks to his superior strategic skills.

_If Aro hears that, he's not going to be very pleased,_ Caius thought to himself wryly.

Stefan looked back helplessly before disappearing through the forest.

Vladimir was still under Jane's pain. Isabella ran up and grabbed Jane by the shoulder. "Jane. Stop. It's over."

Jane started and abruptly her attack ceased. Paula tried to run up to Vladimir, but Caius gave a warning shout and Alec directed his ability to her.

Vladimir awoke to see his mate on the ground. "Paula!" he roared, trying to get through the Volturi. Santiago held him back at Marcus's orders.

Aro walked in front of Vladimir delicately and stood in front of him. "You will pay dearly for everything you have caused, Vladimir," he murmured quietly. The Dacian glared at him.

"You exposed our kind to the humans. You slaughtered whole villages to slake your thirst without thought of the Children of the Moon. For that, you will suffer."

Aro nodded to Felix. The burly vampire walked up to Paula's twitching form and ripped her head off of her body with a blank expression.

Vladimir screamed again. He gave a primal screech of despair, pain, and grief all in one. Isabella grimaced and took a step back. Jane buried her head in Demetri's cloak; Alec quickly moved to make sure Renata couldn't see what was going on. Isabella and Demetri exchanged a helpless look before forcing themselves to look at Aro again. Even Caius looked uncomfortable.

"Chelsea," Aro whispered. The female vampire looked at Aro. "Do you really want to do this?" she asked hesitantly.

"He broke the sacred codes. This is where the myths of how to destroy us originated from. He caused those. He deserves this."

Chelsea nodded slowly before concentrating on Vladimir. The vampire, who had previously been throwing himself towards his mate, who Felix had since added to the pile of other remains after pulling her apart, suddenly stopped fighting against Santiago. Instead, his eyes clouded, much like Stefan's and Marcus's were.

_Those are the signs of one who lost a mate, _Isabella realized with a shudder. They looked like dead fish, pathetic creatures who would see no more.

"Go." Santiago released Vladimir, who sank to the ground before staggering up and away, after Stefan.

As the others were leaving, Isabella caught up to Felix. "Did you do that to Stefan too?" she asked without preamble. His silence was her answer, and the Volturi moved on, knowing the Dacians were far too broken to challenge them again.

The sickly-sweet smelling fumes of a funeral pyre followed them as the fire blazed higher and the vampires slunk into the shadows and away. They were finally, after centuries, going home.

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**Oh, I had one more thing to ask! I've been working on a trailer video of sorts that is related to this fanfiction! It's basically a bunch of clips that I've put to music that details their relationship and even some parts of the story. Do you guys want to see it once it's done? Please let me know if you do! If, let's say, five of you want to see it (review or PM me if you do), then I'll upload it once it's done and link it in my profile. **

**Until later! ~Shriayle**


	17. Apocalypse: Recovery

**I hope you guys aren't too confused about the new title xD They died by being burned at the stake and were reborn as vampires: sounds like a phoenix to me! There is a link on my profile if you want to see the larger title page. I'm rather proud of it, myself (yes I did draw it thank you.)**

**While I do like updating this often, on Monday, I'm going to be going to this summer program thing at a rather well known college here in California, so I will probably not be able to write as much during that time. If I ever get random insomnia, I will most likely find myself writing, but if I have time to write is a different question.**

**Replies:**

**Slytherin of the Sea: One vote for the trailer! And I'm happy that at least one person didn't think it was too bad :P First vampire fight scene I ever wrote. Not too bad.**

**Arabella Whitlock: oh god that innuendo though. You had a good death. It has more meaning later on. and TWO VOTES for the trailer only three more hahahahaha**

**I am in Loki's Army: Delyla will be missed. Sort of. Here's the new chapter!  
**

**also LVB (guest): If you ever find this story again, I'm sorry about the title change. It might confuse some people. Especially those that search for the story title every day. It's great that you still want to review, though! FLANDERS whoot. European countries sound so much cooler than USA. Still trying to make the mate thing work... idk.**

**And here's the chapter! Remember to vote on the trailer and for my next story! Look's like I'm going to write about Luna Lovegood next~ (which I'm rather excited about, not going to lie)**

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The sprint back to Italy didn't take too long. The sky was overcast, but of course, the one city that the vampires had chosen as their home was sunny.

"Seriously, sir Aro?" Jane grumbled, rearranging her cloak. The sun was sure to hit her skin somehow, but she decided that it was better than anything else. Aro gave her an exasperated look; he was growing tired of the most outspoken sibling. Alec caught the look and tried to silently warn Jane, who didn't catch either glance. Isabella just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Can we leave the bickering until we get inside and away from this light?" she asked, putting a hand on Jane's shoulder. Jane jumped at the sudden contact, but she quickly recovered and sighed, agreeing. Caius whispered a "thank you!" to Isabella for breaking up the quarrel, and the crowd headed on.

Isabella fell back and found herself with Corin, Sulpicia, and Athenodora. While she hadn't really talked to the former two, Athenodora had continued to be a sort of kindred spirit to Isabella that none of the others really were, even her siblings. She nodded at the three female vampires.

"Isabella!" Sulpicia called out. "What are you doing here?"

The aforementioned vampire just shrugged. "There's not much else to do up there except hope that Jane is behaving, and Felix and Demetri have a handle on her as well."

Corin giggled slightly. Isabella was always slightly unnerved by Corin's skill of emotion manipulation, but if Athenodora could trust her (or at least, she seemed to), then she could try to. Sulpicia just laughed quietly in some sort of echo to Corin's high-pitched giggle.

The four females ran on in silence for a while, before Corin asked, "What is the castle like?"

Sulpicia's eyes fogged over slightly in nostalgia. "Well, it is tall and white. It's made of this stone that seems to sparkle in the sunlight. Ironic, if you ask me. ("She picked that one up from Aro," Athenodora whispered to Isabella.) The hallways are far too confusing for a human to be able to navigate without a map, but for us it is no problem. The main room where we brought in witnesses for our trials is huge with a high-arching ceiling and three magnificent thrones where our kings sat. And we three queens stood with them. Or," she and Athenodora shared a melancholy look, "I guess we two queens, now."

"What did happen to her?" Athenodora asked. Corin and Isabella shared a confused look.

"Sorry, happened to whom?" Corin asked, blinking.

Sulpicia closed her eyes, sighing. "Our dear sister. Marcus's mate, Didyme."

Isabella's eyes widened. "I assumed she was dead," she said haltingly.

Athenodora sighed. "That's the common consensus," she muttered under her breath.

"She had the innate ability to lift people's emotions. It wasn't really a gift, per se; she could identify the amount of cheer in someone's body and, if she wanted to, magnify it. She made Marcus so much happier than I would have thought possible, even without the gift. They were perfect for one another. Two halves of a whole, like true mates should be," Sulpicia murmured, twisting her pointer and middle fingers together to show how close the two were.

"One day, she disappeared."

Corin and Isabella's eyes widened. "But, how? Mates can't bear to be apart from one another."

Athenodora shrugged helplessly. "We don't know how. One moment, she's enjoying her time with us. She says she needs to hunt. Marcus asks if she wants someone to come with her, she says no, they embrace, she leaves, Aro wishes her luck. We were actually camping out, waiting for you and your siblings to grow older, Isabella," she smiled slightly at Isabella, "and she never returned."

"We sent out search parties. We hoped the village didn't burn her. We tried everything, but we didn't have Demetri, and Demetri doesn't know her mind. Truth be told, we lost her and we don't know how. Marcus and Aro were devastated, but Aro was the only one who could piece himself back together." Sulpicia fell silent as she thought about her brooding mate.

"The truth is, Didyme brought out the best of us without even trying," Athenodora continued from where Sulpicia stopped. "She just had to be there, and she was so innocent and pure that everyone loved her. There isn't much else to say about it."

Isabella nodded quietly and Corin didn't really do anything; she was thinking too hard to respond. "That is a sad story," Isabella said quietly.

Athenodora hazarded a glance towards Marcus. He made no sign of hearing their conversation. "We keep hoping that one day, she will return to us, but we know in our hearts that she's probably gone forever," she breathed.

Sulpicia began crying slightly, but the Volturi ran on, only stopping to dive into the ocean and swim the rest of the way to their castle.

"We're here. We're home," Caius announced, standing still and staring up at the palace-like building in front of him.

Jane's eyes widened when she saw it. It was the largest building she had ever seen, since she had only traveled to nearby villages to feed. It was the height of two churches and the width of four and made of what looked like pure marble and granite. It was the most beautiful thing she had seen. "Alec!" she whispered to him. "I know," he returned, eyes not leaving the sight.

Demetri smiled and pulled his mate close to him. "We have a home, Demetri!" Jane whispered excitedly. "An actual home with an actual door and glass windows!"

Isabella glanced at her siblings wistfully. Only lords had lived in such a grand place in their village. To imagine that they would get to live in a palace of their own was absolutely mindboggling.

Jane, Alec, and Renata ran off, shouting a bit, and danced around the courtyard. It didn't matter how long they had actually lived. They played like the children they were, and Demetri, Isabella, and a reluctant Felix stayed with them.

"I don't know how you can stand to be around her so often," Felix said to Demetri. The two had become close friends in their many odd little tests that Aro constantly gave (mostly just to track down prey and bring them back to him). Demetri chuckled. "Sometimes, I don't quite know why either," he responded with a purr.

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Alec! Jane! Renata! They're leaving us behind, you know!" she called out. The three stopped playing and turned to look at her. Three pairs of dancing, bright red eyes shimmered in the light, and their skin sparkled like broken glass.

"Alright, Isabella!" Alec called back. He reached out to grab Renata's hand and the two ran back. Jane pouted slightly before sighing and returning to the group.

Felix left first, and in a hurry. Demetri and Isabella exchanged an amused glance at his hasty retreat before ushering the three others into the castle. They caught up with the rest of the coven rather easily, even though they had to navigate winding halls and the confusing layout. The newcomers immediately began memorizing the castle's twists and turns, and soon they felt right at home.

Aro and Caius stopped walking suddenly. Isabella finally looked up to see the room that Sulpicia had described. Dust motes floated through the air, only clearly visible in the sunlight that burst through high-arching windows. The entire room was made out of the same material that the outside was, and the thrones looked almost built into the building itself. Marcus let out a sound of nostalgia and sadness, and his brothers looked over at him solemnly.

The triumvirate headed to their customary seats. The guard fanned out and around a small stage-like platform that the thrones sat on, and the kings sat in their seats, Aro in front with Marcus on his right and Caius on his left. Athenodora and Sulpicia stood behind their mates' thrones, and Isabella was struck with the sadness that Marcus looked utterly alone while his brothers could never be solitary.

Aro closed his eyes and let out a sigh. When he had opened them, he looked utterly elated. "My dears," he called to his guard joyously, "this will be our new home until our existences end. It was made to last the times as surely as we will, and I am sure we will have no need to leave it."

The guard collectively bowed to him and the others before silently dissipating. Once they left the room, Chelsea and Afton took charge quietly. They led the rest of the guard to a large room that had an elegant Asian-styled carpet and tapestries on the walls.

"Alright, to you new lot," Chelsea declared. "There are way too many rooms in this castle to even house all of the vampires in the world. Mated pairs can get their own room. There are quite a few large areas that are common rooms for us all to use, like this one. Some are filled with games and things like that. If you are ever wanting, just tell one of the kings and they will see to it that you get that. I will give you a room I think fits your needs, and if you want another, just wander through the empty ones until you find one that you think you will need."

Afton smiled. "Also," he added, "if you ever want to hunt, you must not do so within Volterra limits. We wish to create the illusion of safety from vampires within the vampire capital, so to speak. If you can, please refrain from drinking until you reach Florence or Milan. That is all from me."

Chelsea briskly took each vampire or pair and gave them a room by what she knew would be their preference. Alec and Renata, Jane and Demetri, and Isabella all had rooms close by each other, and they were allowed to fill them with whatever they wished.

The room was the size of Isabella's entire hovel from when she was human. It had a deep purple backdrop with white, black, and red embroidery. The image in the center depicted a Greek myth as well as a Christian biblical story. Isabella smiled slightly when she recognized them. _Atalanta and Esther?_ she thought in amusement. _That's interesting, to say the least._ She looked around the room again. It had two windows, slightly wider than the ones in the throne room, and one was completely floor-length. Tapestries hung nearby and were hooked to the wall in case she wanted to get rid of the sunlight, and a couple of lanterns were propped near the window.

Isabella wasn't sure what else she would want to put in the huge space for now. She thought that having a fireplace would be amusing, if only to ask Aro and see his reaction. In the end, she decided that she could craft one herself and put a lantern in it to create the image of a fireplace. Just to remind her of her humble beginnings as Isabella the village girl.

Jane squealed when she saw her room. It was outfitted similarly to Isabella's, only that the carpet was crimson and the embroidery white, black, and gold with images of Osiris and Isis sewn in. Demetri smiled at her actions as she flitted about from corner to corner and began to dance about again.

"You seem excited," he said in mock-surprise. She looked at him and just laughed out loud whimsically.

"It's just," she danced about again, completely giddy, "I've never been in a room so big and elegant! It's wonderful!"

Demetri was struck by her words. "What do you mean? Where did you live before you were turned?" he asked. The topic had never really come up in conversation.

"Isa and Alec and I lived in a little village hut," she sang out, not noticing the actual surprise on Demetri's face. "We collected wood to get food. It was a slow, poor, dirty existence, but look here, Demetri!" She had gotten distracted by the tapestry and the window. "It's a beautiful blue sky! Like my eyes were!" And so the conversation continued.

Alec was, as usual, less excited than Jane but more excited than Isabella. He stood in the doorway in surprise for a moment before hesitantly walking in, blinking. He turned around to see a surprised Chelsea. "You can't mean that we get all of this space to ourselves," he said.

She blinked. "Well, of course you do. There's plenty of space to go around. This castle's been dug underground for more space; this is barely anything."

Alec turned back around. Renata, who was much more accustomed to such spaces, clung to his arm and looked up at him, concerned. "Is something wrong, Alec?" she asked quietly. "N-no, it's just…" he walked about, dazed. "It's a heck of a lot bigger than I expected," he finished with a mutter. He expected a room that was maybe half the size of his old home. This was larger than the entire house. The carpet was a dark blue with, again, the white and black embroidery, this time accented with silver. Designs of the Odyssey swirled around the dark blue depths.

Renata hugged him from behind and just laid her head against his back. "Well, we're much more different than our human forms, now," she said with a whisper, "and our lifestyles should reflect that, no?"

Alec turned and hugged her back. "I guess so, Ren," he said with a sigh. He reached behind her slightly to close the door.

The others became just as well acquainted with their rooms. Isabella had wandered out and found one of the common rooms Chelsea had mentioned. She noticed that Demetri and Alec were on the ground, playing some sort of board game as Felix taught them the rules along with it. Jane and Renata were sitting off to the side and watching in amusement.

Isabella came over and sat next to Felix. "What are they doing?" she asked bluntly, staring at the carved ivory and ebony pieces.

"Playing shatranj," Felix responded, eyes glued to the board.

Isabella rolled her eyes, and Renata giggled from the opposite side. Alec glanced up momentarily before looking back down. "Don't distract me, Isa," he mumbled, staring in confusion at the elephants and odd riding devices in front of him.

Felix sighed again. "Faras move like this," he said in a voice that sounded as though he had explained it far too often for them already. He picked up a piece that resembled a warrior riding a horse and moved it in an L shape, over Demetri's black pieces, which held swords and fierce facial expressions.

"Wait, why can his move over mine?" Demetri asked. "Because this is a faras piece. Yours can move over his as well," Felix explained.

Jane rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard, guys," she mumbled.

Isabella laughed quietly. "What is the purpose of this game?" she asked Felix.

"To win," he responded, still intently staring at the board.

She sighed. "You're no help," she muttered.

Renata just giggled again.

Alec closed his eyes and sat still for a moment. "Alright, I think I understand this game now," he declared. Demetri gave him an incredulous look. "I'm still stuck on the difference between the fers and the pil," he grumbled.

Jane sighed before pushing her mate over and knocking him down. "Get out of the way, Demi. I've got this," she said with a wicked grin.

Demetri gave her a half-hearted glare before readjusting himself next to Isabella, who then moved to the other side, next to Renata.

The game immediately picked up. The twins glared at each other as they dueled through their polished game pieces. Jane moved her rukh to capture Alec's baidaq, he responded by sending out one of his pil. The game progressed on and on, with captured pieces being unceremoniously placed next to either player, until Jane triumphantly placed her last fers piece. "I won, brother," she declared with a smirk.

Alec sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He stared down at the pieces in front of him. "I guess you did," he said shortly. Jane just giggled and clapped her hands slightly.

"You're in a pleasant mood today, Jane," Isabella noted.

"Did you see those rooms, Isa?" Jane asked. "They're huge! They're the size of our old house!"

"It wasn't an impressive house to begin with," Alec said, raising an eyebrow at her. Jane just stuck out her tongue. "You're just mad that I beat you at this weird game." With that, she flounced to the other side of the room and pretended to stick her nose in the air. The entire room burst into laughter. She turned with a coy smile.

"Well, thank you, my dears!" she said, putting on an impression of Aro. She gave an extravagant bow and came back up. "I am proud of myself, if I do say so."

Isabella chuckled. "He's not going to like that, you know," she said.

Jane walked back over and flopped on the ground. "Like I care," she said with a scoff. "Let's play this game again."

As the sun set, its dying rays landed on the room of vampires rearranging white and black pieces on a checkerboard, getting ready to play through their first night in an actual home.

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**For those who are curious, the game that Felix introduced the siblings and their mates to, shatranj, is the ancient form of chess. Yep. Heavy use of wikipedia for that one.  
**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	18. Apocalypse: A New Day

**Hey guys! Sorry for that extremely long break! As you probably noticed, I haven't deleted the last chapter yet. I'm still at this program for another 2 weeks, so until I have to leave, the message will stay up. This chapter has been written in every bit of time I could find, so there will be typos (also I'm not used to writing with my phone argh). Thanks for understanding!  
**

**Also please fill out the poll! It looks as though I will be writing Heir of Ravenclaw next, which I'm rather excited about. I've decided that you have until chapter 25 to vote on this poll, so get opinions in!  
**

**Replies:**

**wolfess49ers: You're the only one who tried to guess! xD I'm not telling you if you're right or not yet, though :P**

**SonjaSemeleCorvinus: Hmm, I haven't thought of that possibility, but I don't think it will work out with the way the story is going. I am considering both female and male candidates for mates, though.**

**Matthias Stormcrow: Holy crap that's a lot of reviews xDDD Thanks for your support!**

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Isabella found herself staring intently into a dusty volume. Athenodora had taken her and Corin around the castle to show them the library. Although she was raised to read the Bible, Isabella' reading skill wasn't exactly the best in the castle, but she was determined to read more and work harder. Corin needed to find a specific text that Athenodora was adamant was in the room, so she had decided to tag along.

Athenodora walked up behind Isabella. "You're interested in that?" she asked curiously. "The dictation of Homer's _Iliad_?"

Isabella glanced at the front of the book. There were odd symbols that she couldn't really read. "Is that what those mean?" she asked, pointing at the ILIAD on the front.

Athenodora blinked. No matter how smart Isabella always seemed, she still only had a villager's education, although Athenodora seemed to forget that. "Well, we'll have to change that," she said, sitting down next to Isabella. Isabella gave her a confused look. "Change what, exactly?" she said, flipping through the undecipherable symbols in the book in front of her.

Athenodora grinned. "I'm going to teach you the other languages I know. Hopefully I can convince Caius to come and help me with this endeavor; I'm sure that he knows a few others as well."

Isabella eagerly agreed. Corin bowed slightly to Athenodora and exited while holding a slim volume, but the other two sat comfortably around a table, quietly discussing the Greek alphabet and conjugations. After an afternoon of working with Caius's mate, Isabella could read her way through the entire epic and could maintain a conversation about the characters. The two women talked vividly about Ajax's decisions and Odysseus's contribution.

Working with Athenodora was a mixed blessing. While it was worthwhile learning Latin, Ancient Greek, Gaulish, and Sanskrit, Athenodora taught her with an iron fist. She didn't let Isabella go until the younger vampire could understand everything about the new grammar pattern or the next new vocabulary or even just the pronunciations. Isabella never felt more relieved and more tired in her entire vampire existence.

She returned to the common room that Felix and Chelsea seemed to prefer to find Jane challenging Caius to a game of shatranj, the game Felix had explained earlier.

Jane sighed, leaning back slightly, as the vampire king claimed victory. "I was so close," she grumbled, arranging her pieces yet again.

Caius smirked at her. "There was only one mistake you really made, but it made your army crumble to pieces. Just keep that in mind. Don't rely on your intuition."

Jane glared at him half-heartedly before flopping onto her back. Isabella walked in to see Demetri poking her side, trying to elicit a reaction. Felix was sitting nearby, laughing loudly at the spectacle, and Caius and Alec were exchanging exasperated looks.

"This game again, Felix?" Isabella asked amusedly. The older vampire glanced to her and watched as she sedately sat down and looked at the pieces. She picked up one of the white elephants, the piece that Felix had called the 'pil.' "Is this just a war strategy game?" she asked, her eyes twinkling with humor.

Felix ran his right hand through his hair. "Well, yes," he mumbled.

"I didn't think you to be much of the strategizing type," Isabella murmured, examining the carved piece of ivory.

"Hey!" Felix protested indignantly. "Just for that, I challenge you to a game of shatranj! You do know the rules, right?"

Isabella rolled her eyes. "My mind is quicker than Demetri's. I remember."

Amid Demetri's protests and Caius's interested observations, Isabella and Felix set up the board with the pieces. Isabella thought briefly before beginning the game.

A couple of minutes later, Felix stared disbelievingly as Isabella examined the board after she made her move. "Did I win?" she asked. She was just as surprised as Felix was.

"I think you did," Felix responded. "I can see where your strategy started. When I moved my fers to the delta-4 position, you could move your rukh through and set up a cornering of sorts."

Jane giggled at Felix's stupor and congratulated her sister. Alec clapped quietly in a form of applause, and Demetri ended up joining in.

Caius glanced over at Isabella with renewed interest. "Isabella, would you dare play a game against me?" he asked. Isabella froze. "Erm," she coughed out. "Well, I guess so..." The two quietly reset the board.

Jane bounced in excitement. "Who do you think is going to win?" she whispered to Felix. He shrugged slightly. "Caius is the most skilled shatranj player I know, but I've never seen anyone else's mind work as fast as Isabella's," he responded. "This will be interesting, to say the least."

Isabella and Caius took turn playing. They exchanged moves the same way that fencers did: with extreme precision and purpose, all while keeping the main objective in mind. Caius raised an eyebrow when he saw what Isabella was doing. She had methodically placed her pieces closer and closer until he couldn't really play anything. He leaned back and tried to see how to get out of the situation, but in the end he gave up. He flicked his king over.

Isabella blinked again. "Giving up, Caius?" she asked incredulously. "I didn't think you had it in you to do that."

Caius shot her a glare. "You know as well as I that there is no fitting move that wouldn't end in disaster," he playfully growled back. Isabella just rolled her eyes.

Jane's eyes sparkled when she saw that her sister had beat the 'champion.' "Well done, Isa!" she cheered before realizing she had let Isabella's nickname slip. Looking embarrassed, she shrank next to Demetri, who just chuckled and squeezed her with an arm.

Alec giggled as well. It had been long since either twin had said such a personal name for their sister, but it still fit so well. Isabella smiled at Jane's embarrassment and patted her head sympathetically. Jane just pouted.

Caius watched the exchange with a small half-smile on his face. He himself had long since been forgotten by the others in the room, but he didn't mind. The interaction was enough to make up for the lack of attention from his guard.

"While it was nice to play against someone who actually knows what she's doing in this game," (Felix gave him an indignant look) "since you are back, Isabella, I would have to assume that Athena is now free. I'm off until next time," he said, nodding his head as he walked out of the room.

Alec nodded back to him. The younger vampire was happy that his master was beginning to relax around them. Although Caius had been stiff and sharp with them before, he now accepted them as members of the coven and treated them in that manner.

The shatranj game was the first of many more to come, all of which culminated to Caius's grudging but growing respect of Isabella's innate strategic ability. Eventually, he even offered to teach her some of his knowledge as well as collaborate with her, gradually warming up to her bright ideas and keen instinct.

Marcus relied on her, and, as his apprentice, she made sure to make time every so often to go and talk to him. Occasionally, she broached the topic of Didyme or maybe his life prior to being changed, but they mostly just talked mindlessly about anything that they could think of.

It was Aro that struggled to maintain a close relationship with Isabella or, for that matter, any of the siblings. She didn't trust his sheer command over many guards through Chelsea and worked to fight against his leadership when he tried to exert it over her. "Isabella, please," he had sighed exasperatedly one day. "I try to be a good leader. I will release Corin and Santiago as soon as they show their loyalty to our coven."

"How could they do that if they're bound to you all the time?" she hissed back. Aro found himself lost for words; he really couldn't think of any way to counter that. Isabella's crimson eyes flashed proudly and she turned and whisked herself away. "Isabella!"

Soon afterwards, the castle whispered that Aro wasn't using Chelsea's powers anymore. Whispers outside of the castle had a different opinion. Rumors spread of what the Volterra coven, or now Volturi, we're doing with Chelsea's abilities in regards to new members. Some said that they bound anyone who wavered, but the most captivating idea was that the Volturi took every gifted vampire and bound them into service. The Romanians were the main culprits in spreading these ideas: after their fall from grace and the depression resulting from losing their mates, Vladimir and Stefan cultivated the pure rage in their beings for the Italian coven. Aro heard of these thoughts from other vampires and he worried constantly for the wellbeing of his guards.

He and the brothers were the only ones who even knew of these thoughts. The guards in the castle remained blissfully unaware of the gossip raging beyond their marble walls.

* * *

Alec wandered through the castle hallways. The section of the castle he was in was much different from the rest; it was made of a darker wood and stone, with the occasional white highlight. Pondering this, he meandered further without realizing that he was about to walk into Caius until he did.

The ever-young adult turned slightly and glared at Alec. The ever-preteen bowed awkwardly and muttered out an apology. Caius rolled his eyes before turning back around.

"Pardon me, master, but why are you in this unused section?" Alec asked, his head still bowed.

"Tell me, apprentice, do you ever have too many memories to possibly keep track of every detail of every one?" Caius responded, as if he didn't hear Alec.

Alec blinked. "Er, well, I guess so," he said, straightening up. "But aren't our minds supposed to be able to winnow the details out for us?"

Caius nodded slightly to himself, his back to Alec. "That is what we once used this room for," he said.

Alec made a confused noise. Caius gave a grim chuckle and opened the door, gesturing for Alec to come in with him. Alec obliged.

The room had a high vaulted ceiling, not nearly as high as the throne room, but higher than the hallway by far. The walls were intricately carved from white marble on the same ebony background as the hallway had. However, these weren't the details that interested Alec the most. Canvases and painting covered the walls, held up by invisible pins, of specific moments of lives. Sketchbooks bound by leather were strewn across tables that spanned the room, blank or otherwise. Pencils, paints, charcoal, erasers, colored pencils, ink, and pastels were neatly organized in one corner, along with blank canvases.

"What is this place?" Alec asked, wonder in his voice. Caius smiled to himself (the first time Alec had ever seen Caius at peace without Athenodora around).

"This is the memory room." Caius walked around a bit, as if in a daze. "This is where we would come and sketch out a particular memory that was bothering us at the time. Sometimes, little images come sparking into existence and we can't get rid of them, so we drew them down to the little details."

Caius turned to Alec. "You and all of the other guards may now come here and draw your thoughts. It helps."

And with that, Caius swept out of the room, leaving Alec alone to wonder at the beauty of the pictures covering the walls. He recognized Aro, Caius, Sulpicia, Athenodora, and Marcus, but there was one woman with dancing eyes and strawberry blonde hair that he didn't recognize. Her face seemed to resemble Aro's. "That must be Didyme," he mused out loud. She seemed the type of person that everyone loved, that gave everyone pure joy to be with. He mourned her loss briefly.

Alec turned and left the room, closing the door gently as possible, before returning the land of granite and marble.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I'll try to update again soon!**

**~Shriayle**


	19. Darkening: Internal Conflict

**Tensions rise as fights break out; welcome to DARKENING, the fourth arc of _The Life of a Phoenix_. This will be a rather long set of chapters that leads up to some major plot points of the story: the actual _Twilight_ timeline. Thanks for sticking with me, and hope you keep on doing so!**

**In other news, I seem to have crested 100 reviews, followers, and favorites. I cannot describe in words how elated I was when I found out. Thanks for supporting this little doodle that I wrote on a whim, and I hope you are just as excited about the future's writing as I am.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: That is a nice idea, but it would involve making romance a key issue of the plot. As of now, I want to just focus on what is to come later. For that reason, while I will consider your suggestion, it is not likely to happen in the story. Sorry.**

**Guest: I'm going to assume there's only one of you xD Thanks for your support, and I'm glad that you like it.**

**LVB (Guest): Hello again! Glad you didn't lose us. Bella's character always infuriated me in the books and the one movie I actually watched (though I may have to watch them for the trailer later), so I much prefer my reimagined Isabella. The memory room will come to play at a future date; I was thinking about it and realized it should be revealed sooner than I intended. Science camp has also been fun, but working for two days on a poster for research that my group did was not fun. HIV is interesting and all, but I have only been reading articles on what could be a possible cure for the past week...**

**death2luv (Guest): I'm happy that you like my little story! Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I will write any more Twilight fanfictions after _The Life of a Phoenix _ends. I really don't have too many other ideas to use.**

* * *

Isabella nervously readjusted her hood. She was curious about what the human world was like after she was locked in the castle, and she finally got the gumption to leave for a day. Of course, Caius had been completely against it, saying it wasn't strategic, and Aro had just pursed his lips. She reassured them that she would be careful enough to avoid being seen; to her slight surprise, Marcus had backed up her claim. The older vampire trusted Isabella's intuition. So now, she found herself with a large pouch of florins and just as much curiosity.

She found herself in a peculiar sort of bazaar. Stalls with merchants and salespersons of all kinda filled the small village square. Shouting filled the air, and stenches clogged her nose, making it harder to smell the humans around her as well. _Mixed blessing,_ she thought wryly.

She approached the first stall. Fabrics covered in embroidery were shown off flamboyantly, glittering red and green and blue and gold in the light. She fingered one gently; it was a semicircle covered in designs of some sort of story.

"Benvenuto! C'è qualcosa che vuoi?" (Welcome! Is there anything you'd like?) Isabella flinched at the enthusiastic voice in her ear. A slightly stout, middle-aged man from Florence (he smelled of sweat and herbs) stood next to her, dark brown eyes twinkling, beaming.

Her mind stuttered into Italian and began to rapidly translate. "No sir," she responded in perfect Italian. "I'm just looking around for now."

"Ah, you speak the dialect beautifully! Whatever you need, it is here for textiles! Just let me know, hmm?" He gave her one last wide smile before descending on another unfortunate customer. Isabella blinked; she was lucky that he hadn't seen her eyes. How had he snuck up behind her like that? She must not be paying enough attention. Isabella turned her attention back to the embroidered fabric in front of her.

There was an interesting design, to say the least. Isabella recognized the creatures, people, and events from Greek mythology, specifically the story of the Golden Fleece. She fingered the glittering ram, the two twins clinging to it for dear life.

"Did you find anything you'd like?" The boisterous salesman was back. Isabella nodded slightly and gestured to the carpet she held. She paid the man an absurd number of florins before setting off again.

At the next stall, Isabella came across an assortment of seeds. She bought exotic, colorful varieties of blossoms as well as seeds for creeping vines and other shrubbery. She found old volumes of books she was curious about, like an old edition of the Holy Book she once prized above all other possessions and a copy of _Beowulf_. She bought chairs. She bought some tiny trinkets. She even got paintings that seemed to last forever. With these possessions and a semi-full bag of florins, Isabella returned to her room in Volterra. Jane teased her for returning with so much, but her jesting had a slightly envious tone. Catching her jealousy, Isabella promised to take her to the bazaar as soon as possible.

Jane couldn't be placated. "Why do you get to do the interesting things?" Jane whined. "I want to do all that, too!" She then began to pout.

Isabella stopped in the middle of moving a chair before whipping around to stare at her sister. "Jane, I'm not in the mood for this," she said with a tired voice. "I don't want to squabble right now."

Jane growled slightly. "Does that mean you don't want to spend any time listening to what I want anymore?!" she shrieked. "Nowadays, it's all Caius and Felix and Chelsea and Athenodora! It's just shatranj and reading and strategizing! You never take time out for us anymore! Why won't you! I hate you, Isa!" Jane stormed out of Isabella's room. The sound of her light footsteps followed her to a room close by (probably hers). A door slammed.

Isabella stared blankly after her. Slowly, her face contorted into some unknown emotion, one that blended upset and anger. She threw down her hands in disgust. Not disgust for Jane, but disgust for the way she treated her family. She had been slightly neglecting them; she didn't know much about Jane and Demetri's relationship or Alec and Renata's. All she knew were the strategies that Caius taught her and the books Athenodora read with her. Isabella raised her hands and clutched at her mahogany hair and yanked.

She let out a wounded, frustrated, animalistic yowl. She screamed until her throat ran out of oxygen and she had to gasp to regain herself. Isabella heaved and shook her head, her locks flying everywhere. She sighed to herself and began to halfheartedly drag the chairs around the room again.

Jane slammed the door before collapsing against it and sliding down to the ground. She shook with tearless sobs and wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to control herself. She heard Isabella's anguished scream from far off.

_Goddamn it!_ She growled to herself. She felt herself tremble and tried to control the odd body spasms. She took shaky, unnecessary breaths.

"Jane?" Jane glanced up. Demetri had carefully nudged the door open a crack and was now staring down at her with concern.

"What?" she snarled. Part of herself felt sorrow at the hurt expression in Demetri's eyes, but she didn't let herself stay hung up on it. She whipped her head back as she sank back into her misery. "Just leave me alone, Demi," she grumbled.

Demetri sighed and closed the door again, leaving Jane to her thoughts. The blonde vampire had been brooding for a couple of hours when she heard a quiet knock on the door. She yanked the door open and snapped out "I thought I told you to leave me alone!" before realizing that it was her sister in front of her, not her mate.

Isabella held her hands up. "Truce, damn it," she said with a chuckle, making Jane eye her suspiciously. Her sister didn't always say such words.

"I wanted to get some help with these," Isabella explained, showing Jane the seeds she had bought. "Master Marcus is letting us use a garden near here for our own fun. D'you want to help? I've asked Renata as well."

Jane couldn't speak. No matter how badly she treated her sister, Isabella seemed to bounce back. She nodded wordlessly, and almost immediately Isabella's posture relaxed slightly and she nodded a silent thanks to Jane.

When they met in the garden to plant the flowers that Isabella had bought, they didn't talk about the row from earlier. In fact, they never take about that moment again; it was never formally addressed, but Jane knew that she had been forgiven.

Their garden was within the castle's walls, but it bloomed beautifully. Flowers filled everywhere not covered in cobblestone and grass, and the sun's rays warmed everything in sight. This was the one place that the vampires could sparkle in and not feel constrained. However, the other inhabitants of the castle never stepped foot into this wonderful space. As beautiful as it seemed, it was also delicate and fragile looking. The others didn't want to ruin its alive beauty by entering without the siblings' permission.

Alec and Renata found themselves wandering into the garden one morning. Renata gave a yelp of surprise when a small white fleck blew past her face.

Alex glanced over to her, and she gave him a sheepish glance in return. He gently squeezed her shoulder in reassurance and smiled. "What is it, Ren?" he asked.

"It's just..." She gestured around her. "I didn't expect it to be winter."

Alec followed her gaze up to the sky. More white flakes were drifting down slowly and we're piling all around them. He heard Renata giggle slightly before he felt her ram into him and push him into the snow.

Floundering slightly, Alec soon managed to right himself and glare at her. She was still clinging to him and staring up with large, irresistible eyes. _Damn her..._ he thought, staring into their crimson depths.

He leaned forward and met her lips with his. Her eyelashes fluttered with surprise before her eyes closed in bliss. The two sat in the same position, adjusting in minute increments until Alec was somehow on top of her. Renata gasped slightly for unneeded air while her mind registered the vulnerable position. Alec smiled a bit and chuckled. He lifted a hand and carefully stroked her cheek. She leaned into his touch, melting into his hand.

Alec sat up and offered the same hand to her, as she was on her back. They sat up, snow covering their cloaks, figures in perfect tandem as they relaxed on the snow.

At that exact moment, a figure flew past and knocked into Alec. He got up scowling, ready to respond in kind, when he saw his older sister standing next to him, a devious grin on her face.

At the same time, snow flew past Alec's right ear and almost hit Isabella, who dodged at the last second. Alec heard Demetri give a slight groan behind him and laughed out loud.

He grabbed Renata's hand and pulled her up. He directed them away from the line of fire and quickly picked up a bit of snow. He hurled it towards Jane, who had emerged with Demetri, and laughed at her indignant response.

"Alec, I'm going to get you!" Jane shrieked, staring him down and chasing him at breakneck speeds. Noticing the imminent danger, Alec darted away as well, nearly crashing into Felix (who Demetri had persuaded to come to the garden). The larger vampire's eyes widened at the twins' childish antics and even wider when Isabella joined in and leaped at them, pushing into a snow drift behind them. The twins came up slightly upset; Isabella emerged with dancing eyes.

They spent the rest of the day basking in the snow's crystalline light.

* * *

Isabella glanced at her hands. As usual, everything was impeccable. Her nails shone, her skin was glittering mysteriously, and her body was completely devoid of hairs. She glanced back up to an exasperated Marcus. He had been trying to discuss _Beowulf_ with her, but she had just ignored his speech.

"Did you even hear any of my words, Isabella?" he asked with a sigh. She shrugged nonchalantly. "The only thing I've been thinking of is my siblings," she responded lightly.

"They're on their first mission, correct?" Marcus asked, realizing that they had been absent.

She nodded wordlessly and stuck the top part of a finger into her mouth. She slowly began to chew on the granite-hard appendage, feeling it grind to powder between her teeth. After a few moments, she withdrew the finger and examined the nail again.

Still perfect. Maybe slightly less pristine, but not noticeable to any mortal thing.

Marcus chuckled silently at her impatience and worry. "Fear not, Isabella," he murmured loudly enough for her to hear. "Your siblings will be safe with Demetri and Felix. You must learn to trust them."

"It's not Jane and Alec I mistrust," Isabella grumbled, "it's Demi and Felix. Demetri tends to be less mature than his age, and Felix is too strong. He's still at newborn level. He's centuries old. Isn't that a bit wrong to you as well?"

Marcus thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "It is not odd at all, Isabella," he whispered. She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well, not the worrying," he clarified. "Felix's strength scares me as well."

"I'm not scared," she muttered like a petulant child. Marcus shook his head in amusement and turned back to his book.

Isabella sighed before doing the same.

* * *

Alec strayed behind Jane. He could feel her anger growing and decided that, just this once, he wasn't going to hold her back.

It had been a few months since the twins, Demetri, and Felix had been sent to find another coven. They were apparently succubi who revealed themselves to humans far too often. They had apparently also had ties to the Romanian coven and were still friendly to them, and Aro wanted them out of the picture.

However, Demetri hadn't been able to discern the proper trail and Felix had been jabbing him for it. Jane had allowed this abuse to continue for some time before letting herself lose her temper and begin to start fuming. Alec wanted to watch it play out.

They were standing on some sort of dark stone overlook. A short wall, as high as Jane's stomach, surrounded the point.

"I was just saying that maybe you didn't track the right vampire again, Demetri," Felix said, shrugging slightly. Demetri felt another small sting in the pit of his stomach as he felt the insult twitch, but he didn't let himself feel anything because of it. Jane wasn't as composed.

"Will you _shut up_?!" she growled, turning on him suddenly. Felix raised his hands casually and gave her an easy smile.

"Calm down, Jane," he said soothingly. His arms lowered as they rested behind his head. He closed his eyes. "Just a little jab at Demetri here."

"Like all the other _little jabs, _Felix?" Jane growled. He shrugged again, eyes still closed.

Jane felt her fingers dig into her palms. Alec decided that enough was enough.

"Guys, come on," he murmured, tugging at Jane's arm. "Just get along until we get back to the castle."

Jane let out a shaky breath and straightened out of her previously offensive position. "Yes," she breathed, eyelids fluttering. She turned and moved as if to leave.

"Don't worry, Alex, I could have taken her," Felix said insolently. He had long since forgotten his previous fear of the female vampire.

"My name is Alec," the vampire in question said, gritting his teeth. Felix faked a yawn. "Mmhmm," he muttered, stretching again. "Well, back to work. Get anything yet, Demetri?"

"How about instead of bothering me, you tried to help out?" Demetri muttered. While Felix was his best friend, he had a tendency to be completely not tactful, which resulted in some bad situations. Like now.

"It's your job, right? You three do the tracking and nonviolent stuff and I just come in and kill for ya, not much else to it," Felix said.

"_That's it_," Jane snarled. She turned quickly on Felix, who had turned his back on her. The large vampire suddenly let out an inhuman scream before arching backwards and collapsing downwards shakily. Jane gave a sadistic smirk and pushed herself to find every ounce of hatred, of fury, of disgust, of pain that she could muster against this arrogant being.

A few seconds later, Alec appeared in front of her, almost in her line of fire. She couldn't force herself I get him; for whatever reason, something within her didn't allow for it to happen. She didn't hear his warnings, just shrieked at him to "move, damn it!" and she most certainly didn't sense Demetri's approach from behind. The taller vampire quickly picked Jane up and embraced her. She was still caught up in her dark haze, screeching at Felix's twitching form, struggling against Demetri's attempts to mollify her.

Alec slapped her across the face. She immediately snapped out of it, snarling at Alec instead. "What?" she grumbled.

He wordlessly moved away from her line of sight. Felix's motionless form took her breath away, and she stumbled backwards, hyperventilating.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," she babbled, eyes still locked onto his form. "I did this, I did this...!" She tore herself away from the others.

"Jane!" Demetri moved as if to follow her, but Alec caught him and held him back. He glared at his mate's brother. "I need to help her," he stressed.

"Then leave her be," Alec responded firmly. "She will come back when she wants to. And when she does, we need to go find these succubi."

Sighing, Demetri gave up and nodded sullenly. Alec nodded ok return and sat down next to Felix, waiting for his sister to come back and colleague to recover from her attack.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I will try to keep a regular updating schedule when I return to school. **

**~Shriayle**


	20. Darkening: Of Ardor and Fury

**Hey guys! It's currently midnight where I am, and what does that mean? I'm finally back home :D I'll try to write more now; I'm getting rather excited actually. The real plot of this story is approaching~~ Something to look forward to, I guess.**

**Someone asked me for a timeline a long time ago; I'm planning to post one in a couple chapters' time on the extra site on my profile. I'll let you know when I update that. Also the trailer is in progress! I have clipped many portions of the movies to use; now to edit them. And set them to music. If anyone's curious, the theme song/main song that I think represents this story is "The Mother We Share" by CHVRCHES. It's more the lyrics than anything. That's the song that the trailer will be set to :)**

**REPLIES:**

**LVB (Guest): Camp was so much fun! I did burst into tears every time I tried to talk about it to someone for a few days afterwards though. (I'm rather happy I can answer that part completely now)  
**

**Matthias Stormcrow: Thanks for the support!**

**I am in Loki's Army: UPDATES YEAH!**

**natcityjp: Felix is too much fun to play with :) Also he's kinda dumb in my version, it seems.  
**

**emmacv: Thanks!**

* * *

The four guards watched silently as the six women in front of them laughed and joked with one another, sitting around their dinner. One, clearly the leader, was watching the rest with a maternal gleam in her eyes and a calm smile on her lips. Two seemed similar enough to be sisters, even down to the fiery hue of their hair. Those two sat next to each other, leaning, happily grinning.

Jane's eyes stung slightly. She didn't want to destroy the family. But they had exposed themselves to the humans far too much; there were too many rumors of the pale, hard succubi that attracted the townspeople, some of which never walked away from them. They were thought of as dangerous, but irresistible. The same way all vampires were.

The way that Aro had forbidden vampires to act.

But here these vampires were, huddled around three dead humans, occasionally sipping their blood, but mostly just laughing and dancing. This was wrong, completely wrong.

What had Hilda taught her five newborns? Had she taught them to respect their prey? Clearly not, for there were three cooling carcasses right there, with strays hungrily waiting a safe distance for the bloodsuckers to leave. Had she taught them the rule of exposure?

Jane held out a hand slightly: Felix had begun to move forward. The burly vampire shot her a dark look, which the smaller vampire returned with a calm apathy.

"We wait, Felix," she intoned. He nodded brusquely before backing away into the shadows.

The one with brownish-blonde hair, Hilda, glanced up slightly. She had sensed another presence; if it was a human, then her coven had to disappear again.

"_Kommt, meine Kinder, wir müssen in der Nacht._" (Come, my children, we must melt into the night) Hilda purred. The other five vampires glanced at her: the two with hair red as flame, the one with hair dark as raven's feathers, the one with hair yellow as the sun's rays, the one with hair brown as coffee. They nodded as one and quietly began to get up. Hilda nodded in approval and turned to walk away. She hadn't gotten farther than three steps when she noticed Jane in front of her.

Fear rose in Hilda. "Witch girl," she hissed out at the smaller girl in Italian. Jane raised an eyebrow.

"That's not very nice," she chided. Another vampire, the one with brown hair and red eyes (though, Jane noted with amusement, that wasn't much help, as everyone had red eyes) snarled, "Don't talk to our sire like she is vermin."

Hilda looked back desperately at her charges. The other three cloaked figures had surrounded them, the two larger ones holding two of her girls at once. She let out a strangled cry.

"Please, don't hurt them, I'll do anything," Hilda begged.

Jane let out an unamused chuckle. "Why does everyone think we are the bad guys, again?" Jane drawled. Demetri rolled his eyes while holding onto the two ginger vampires, both of whom were struggling to defend their leader. "Jane, m'dear, don't taunt them," he called out.

Jane let out a sound, although the reason why was incomprehensible. It could have been to acknowledge Demetri's words, it could have been to try and calm the others down.

"Listen, Hilda, the last time we saw you, you only had three. One with hair as red as flame, one with hair as fair as snow, and one with hair as dark as night. Why the additional ones? We asked for no more exposure. As safety."

"I can't help it!" Hilda whimpered. "Their situations, if only your leader saw them, if only he would come with you."

Jane tutted slightly. "Master Aro cannot be bothered with sweeps of the vampiric community. You know this," she said, spitting out the _Master_ with slight disdain.

The brunette noticed the disgust. "Why do you hate your master so?" she called out. "Noela, don't!" one of the red-haired vampires called out after her. She shooed them off with a gesture before continuing, trying to fight out of Alec's grip. "Why not get rid of him and make yourself happier?"

Alec's eyes widened with horror. Hilda closed hers in despair. There was no saving Noela now.

Jane closed her eyes as well, but in pity. She opened them and the emotion was visible to everyone. "You have a strong spirit, newborn. Noela, was it?"

"Don't call me that," Noela growled uncertainly. Hilda let out a small sob.

Jane sighed. "Pity we have no reason to offer you a place. There is only so much room in our castle. I think that if our paths met but sooner, I would have liked you as a friend and been able to convince our master to let you join."

She stepped away from Hilda and walked towards Noela, who was shrinking farther and farther away. "However," Jane breathed, "after those words of _treason_, I can't let you go now. We were going to, with only a warning, but…"

"Please, she is only a newborn, don't kill her, kill me, please," Hilda choked out. Jane glanced over in sympathy. "If Aro sees my mind and sees that I hesitated, he would have my head, mate or no," Jane stated.

Alec shook his head. "It will be painless," he promised quietly. Noela's eyes widened as he wrapped them both in his mist, to which he was impervious but she wasn't.

"Felix, come here. Leave those two with Demi."

The larger vampire obeyed solemnly. The two girls he had been holding slumped against the two that Demetri had been guarding. The four watched with wide eyes as their sister was torn apart and set on fire.

Hilda let out a choked sob again and fell to her knees. "My little Noela," she whispered, reaching towards the flames.

"NO!" The raven-haired girl threw herself into the flames, holding onto the ash. "NOEL! NOEL!" She sobbed into her hands and curled up on her side, letting the flames wash over her as well, body crumbling as venom leaked out.

"Mary," one of the other girls whispered. It had been one of the red-haired girls, the younger looking one.

Hilda was almost inconsolable now. She was crying out like a wounded animal, like a mother whose heart had been ripped out and dashed to pieces by her own child.

The two sisters watched their coven mates burn. One, the one who appeared older, turned slowly to Felix. Her face slowly lit up with rage.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she shrieked, throwing herself at the burly vampire. "WHY?! THEY WERE MATES! YOU KILLED THEM! WHY?!" she screeched.

"I'LL TEAR YOU APART! I'LL MAKE IT SO THAT ARO-BASTARD-MASTER OF YOURS CAN'T DO SHIT ABOUT IT!" The girl threw herself at Felix, wrenching his arm behind him. Or, at least, trying to. Felix didn't let her do so.

He glanced at Jane. "Again?" he asked, pain in his eyes. As violent as he seemed, he hated death as much as she did, and she knew.

Jane closed her eyes. "We cannot fail Master Aro," she choked out.

The other sister watched as her older sister burned in flames. Hilda was almost silent, sobs wracking her tiny frame, as she watched her daughters burn one by one. The younger sister began to crawl backwards, eyes wide.

_She seems around Isabella's age_, Jane realized with a start and a stab to her heart. _If Alec and I died, what would Isa do?_ Jane watched silently as the younger sister stumbled to her feet and continued scurrying backwards until she threw herself away and ran. Jane let her. She let her go.

_Let her grieve._

There were only two vampires left now. One was Hilda, the other the blonde. The blonde vampire had collapsed into the fetal position, trembling, at the beginning of the trial, but now she grew still. Felix picked her up gently and held her to himself.

"Hilda, what will you do?" Alec asked gently. Jane shot a look to her brother. "Will you make another coven, with these same risks? Will you try to kill yourself to join your children? Or will you search for a mate and give up on your dreams to save every poor girl in the continent?"

Hilda looked up at Alec, straight into his eyes. Without a word, she got to her feet steadily and held herself up. With a defiant gleam in her eyes, so much different from the maternal one she had not half an hour ago, she walked backwards deliberately and threw herself on the bonfire Felix had made.

Jane watched as she burned silently, still blinking until the flames consumed her and reduced her to dust.

Jane let out a shaky breath. Demetri immediately went to her and embraced her as she sobbed into his chest. He made comforting, quiet noises as she whimpered into him, traumatized by the mother's last act of despair. She began to grip his cloak, his shirt, anything she could to try and convince herself that it was all a horrific nightmare that she had to endure, that the morning would come, a lie that would be so much more believable if they could just _sleep, God damn it_!

The blonde vampire watched her outburst of pain from Felix's arms. Never had she thought the Volterra coven capable of such compassion, towards their own or towards others. She settled back down in the other vampire's arms.

Felix merely readjusted his arms. They seemed to fit like pieces of a puzzle. She sat stock-still before wagering a glance up just as he glanced down. Their eyes met.

Alec looked over at the two, who were still frozen in shock. He looked back at his sister and Demetri and grimaced.

_Oh, great, _he thought sardonically, rolling his eyes. He tossed the human bodies nonchalantly onto the fire and watched the conflagration burn faster with the new kindling. _This return trip is going to be _so_ much fun, what with two mated pairs now._

* * *

Aro chuckled. Felix bowed his head slightly and withdrew his hand from Aro's.

"Ah, but what great pleasure it is to bring you here, ah..?"

"Heidi," the vampire filled in. She gave Aro a charming smile. "My name is Heidi."

Aro nodded and turned around, pacing away. "So, ah," he said in his odd, bird-like way, "do you have any gift, really?"

Heidi shuffled her feet slightly. Nervously. Isabella noted this change in emotion from her place in the shadows.

"I-I may have caused the downfall of my coven, sir," she whispered. Aro raised an eyebrow. He settled back into his throne, much to his brothers' relief (they were tired of his theatrics).

"Speak," he commanded.

"My amplification," Heidi said carefully, "is my charisma, Hilda believed. She thought that I could draw anyone to me. It was how we hunted, but too many were attracted. We tried to move constantly, but wherever we went, whispers followed. They called us prostitutes, whores, to try and get us to stay in one place to catch us."

"And burn you at the stake?" Isabella bit her lip. It wasn't Jane that had spoken out, but Alec. He stepped forward, his visage devoid of emotion.

Heidi blinked. "Excuse me?" she said.

Alec shook his head and retreated. "Nothing," he breathed slightly.

Isabella just rolled her eyes at him. He snorted quietly in response.

Aro sighed in irritation. "Please, continue. I apologize for that interruption."

Heidi blinked again before deciding to wave it off. "It is fine. We were chased from place to place. We ended up in Strasbourg, where you found us. Your guard know the rest."

Aro sank back into his chair even further. He closed his eyes. "Hmm," he intoned.

"Well, I don't see why she can't stay," Caius muttered. Isabella shot him an incredulous look. "She is Felix's mate, after all, and she should become a part of the guard."

"No." Aro and Caius started, but Marcus smiled slightly. He had expected Isabella's protests.

"Isabella?" Aro asked, a shocked look on his face. The mentioned vampire walked forward a few steps before taking her hood off almost daintily. She looked Heidi straight in the eyes and saw nothing but a willingness to learn.

"Heidi will stay in the castle with the wives, Corin, Santiago, Afton, Chelsea, Renata, and I," Isabella declared. She lifted her chin slightly as though daring others to protest. Which, of course, they did.

"But why?" Aro asked, fascinated.

"Her gift would be of no use to you, sir Aro," Isabella responded lightly. "And she would help as a fisher of sorts. You know how much you hate it when the citizens of Volterra believe their rulers to be supernatural." It was an inside joke of sorts; the guard teased Aro about his fear quite a bit.

Aro sighed, a slightly annoyed look gracing his features. "Well, I suppose…"

Isabella nodded in affirmation before putting her hood back on and bowing away.

"Very well," Aro said, this time to a very confused Heidi. "You will not be a guard. You will stay here and help manage the castle."

"Thank you for this opportunity," Heidi said, the confused look still present on her face.

Aro gestured to Felix. "Show her your room. Make her comfortable. Then, find Isabella and ask her to help our new recruit out."

Felix nodded slightly. "I will do what I can, sir," he responded with a slight bow. Felix walked away, Heidi following him.

Jane and Alec exchanged amused glances before bursting into laughter.

"What is it?" Demetri asked, exasperated.

"How many florins would you bet that those two won't be emerging from their room for days?" Jane chortled.

Demetri grimaced at the mental image that ensued.

"I would say weeks," Alec responded just as light-heartedly.

"Would you two stop gambling on foolish things?" Isabella had walked up to them, bemused, when she heard what they were discussing. The twins shrugged. Isabella's mouth suddenly curled into a slight smirk.

"If not, then it's going to take at least a fortnight for them to even think about leaving," she added, chuckling to herself. Jane and Alec soon joined her laughing, leaving Demetri to wonder if he was the only one that hadn't gone insane.

* * *

Much as Isabella had predicted, it took much too long for anyone to convince the new mates to emerge from their room. Isabella had chanced a look through its open doors once and saw only broken furniture. How it broke, she didn't know and didn't want to know.

Jane shuddered every time she thought of it. As much as she _sort of _liked Felix and as much as she pitied Heidi for the horror she went through, Jane couldn't just let them have their happiness. It felt kind of weird to think about what was happening in the room. Demetri felt the same way. His missions were odd without his friend, yet he didn't want to pull Felix away from whatever (or whoever, Demetri added wryly) he was doing. Finally, the day came when Aro became fed up with the nonstop mating.

"Would someone take care of the elephant in the room?" he asked his entire guard. They exchanged amused looks. They all knew what he spoke of.

"What would you have us do?" Santiago responded. "No one wants to be the one to do such a thing."

Corin nodded. "They're happy. I don't want to be the one to ruin that when I have a gift to make others happy." Her simplistic logic apparently made sense to Aro because he just nodded and moved on to the next person.

"Their bond is strong. Let them forge it," Chelsea said serenely.

"I refuse." "As do I." The twins spoke almost in sync. Jane raised an eyebrow at him, Alec just maintained a steady look.

Isabella remained silent, but Aro didn't ask her.

Afton sighed. "I'm the only one who could logically do it," he spoke up. The others glanced over before realizing he had vanished from sight again. Isabella saw him raise his thumb up at her. She rolled her eyes at him.

Aro nodded. "Afton, now would be a good time," he said.

The guard sighed before wrapping his grey cloak around his neck. He carefully made his way out of the room and silently walked down the hall to Felix's.

The door was slightly ajar, but Afton still had to squeeze through it. The room was dark, but his sharp vision could still catch everything inside.

He walked into a respite between their lustful activities. They were both lying on the floor, the bed long since demolished, surrounded by scraps of cloth. The only thing preventing Afton from seeing the place they interlocked were their bodies, for which he was thankful of. The only intact piece of clothing seemed to be Felix's cloak. They were lying against each other, whispering in each other's ear.

Afton decided that enough was enough and that he did not want to be present if they chose to start again.

"Felix," Afton called out, making himself visible. The immediate reaction was funny, even to him. Heidi had shrieked slightly and backed away (Afton averted his eyes quickly enough to avoid seeing any unnecessary body parts) and Felix had just sighed and sat back on his haunches.

"You couldn't have knocked?" Felix deadpanned. Afton just shrugged nonchalantly before flinging the cloak at Felix. "Put that on so I can look you dead in the eyes," Afton grumbled, eyes still closed.

He heard the rustling of cloth and Felix's grunt. He opened his eyes to see Felix with a cloak wrapped around himself. "At least you look more presentable now," Afton joked.

"What brings you here?" Felix asked. Heidi was still crouched by the wall, shocked at Afton's sudden appearance. Afton noticed and unclasped his own cloak. "Lend that to your mate there, first of all," Afton said. Heidi took the offered cloak and gave back a grateful smile.

"The master wants you out soon, Felix. It's great to see you happy and all, but enough's enough. You'll get plenty of time to throw the sausage in the hallway later."

Afton got up and strode out of the door, leaving a flabbergasted Felix and a mortified Heidi behind.

Afton hadn't gotten a step out of the door when he heard someone say, "I never thought you could say such things, Afton." He whipped around to see Isabella, eyes dancing, hands full of clothes.

"I brought these over for Heidi. I hope that Felix has more clothes for himself, seeing as no one else here matches his size." Isabella put the clothes down and raised a fist up. Afton knew what she wanted to do.

She knocked loudly and before Felix could make it to the door, the two vampires sped down the hallway and back into the original room, laughing as they did so.

Felix emerged later, looking much more presentable, and made his way to the throne room to find his leaders. Aro was sitting there, looking amused at Felix's newfound happiness.

"Nice to see you for once, Felix. I'm sorry for cutting it short. You should take yourself and your new mate out hunting soon. Your eyes have darkened considerably."

* * *

**Eh, kind of raunchy there at the end :P Oh, Afton. I should use you more often because you are awesome.**

**Felix/Heidi was sort of an unplanned thing, but it reminds me of Emmett/Rosalie. For whatever reason. Hmm.**

**Thanks for reading! I'm just beginning research into the next fanfic, which will probably be _Heir of Ravenclaw_, so keep your eyes peeled for that!**

**~Shriayle**


	21. Darkening: Crimson Meets Gold

**I'm back again~ Here's the next update. The plot is beginning..! DARKENING will continue for a bit more, though, before we hit actual series parallels.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: Felix and Heidi were spur of the moment, but I think they're rather adorable, personally :3**

**ClumsyReader: I already responded privately, but I thought I should address this again. ****_Heir of Ravenclaw_**** will be only Harry Potter, not a crossover.**

**I am in Loki's Army: The trailer isn't going to be that long, but I need to do some voice manipulation for it xD I'm actually still thinking about the mate thing. I don't know how I'm going to slip it in casually if I even do. It might be more of an epilogue style thing, if anything at all.**

**Matthias Stormcrow: Thanks!**

**Slytherin of the Sea: Thanks! Video will come out soon (at least, before September, I think).**

* * *

Sometimes, the Volturi went to calm down in the outer perimeters of the castle. The siblings were much different. They chose to return to what surrounded them at their first birth. Whenever the vampires wanted to leave the confines of the castle, they ran out into the forest.

Alec was relaxing in the woods surrounding the Volturi castle. Even though he hated his skin and how it sparkled like broken glass in the sun, he let the sunlight fall on his prone form. He heard someone approach and took a second longer to realize it was two people. Alec glanced over.

It was Renata and Demetri. The girl was nervously shifting her weight and her companion was looking just as frantic. Alec furrowed his brow slightly. These two vampires in particular weren't easy to spook.

"Alec?" Demetri said haltingly. Alec quickly got up and looked back and forth between the two.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, really," Renata responded quietly. Alec wordlessly held out an arm, which Renata took and wrapped around herself.

"What did happen, then?" Alec asked, getting more and more nervous.

Demetri let out a breath. "You're going to want to see for yourself, Alec," he replied, letting his arms fall to his sides. Alec nodded wordlessly and all three of them ran back to the castle.

Aro looked slightly frantic. Isabella and Jane were already with him, and Jane's expression betrayed her nervousness.

"Has something happened?" Alec asked again, looking at Isabella. She was, as usual, completely nonchalant about what was happening around her.

"Not much. I was bringing a harpsichord in and noticed that everyone was acting on edge over something," Isabella replied, crossing her arms. Alec raised an eyebrow.

"Where did you get a harpsichord from?"

"That doesn't matter right now, Alexander," Aro muttered, pacing again. Alec's eye twitched upon hearing his given name.

"Well, then, Aro? Jane? Demetri? Renata?" Isabella listed off the names, tapping a finger on her left hand to count them off. She held up the four fingers and flicked them around for a bit. "Which of you four is going to tell me what is going on?" She settled back, her mahogany hair in slight disarray.

Aro finally stopped pacing and stood still, as if contemplating how to word his next statement. Before he could even open his mouth, Caius sighed loudly. "For pity's sake, Aro," he said with a sigh. "We've scented a new vampire around Volterra."

Isabella's head whipped around to stare at him. "Excuse me?" she said quietly, as if she couldn't hear what he had just said.

Caius flicked his hand backwards. "You heard me," he said nonchalantly. "There's been a new vampire in the area. Aro here doesn't quite know what to do."

"I know exactly what to do, Caius," Aro snarled back, running a hand through his hair. "I just… haven't done it yet," he finished lamely.

Caius chuckled slightly. "Of course, my brother," he snorted.

Marcus emerged from the hallway. "Marcus, my brother," Caius called out. "At the memory room again, I presume?"

Marcus gave a barely perceptible nod. Caius nodded in return. "Well, it seems that our Chelsea has found another vampire on our land. Funny how that can happen, hmm?"

Marcus chuckled slightly. "Yes, funny," he murmured.

Aro looked ready to explode. "My _brothers_," he snarled out. "My _esteemed compatriots, _this is an actual issue that we need to address. "If this vampire decides to go on some huge eating rampage within our city boundaries, like so many in the past have, we are in _trouble_, _again_."

"Now you're just being overdramatic," Athenodora growled, walking in. "Just go and talk to the man. Maybe just bring him into here. Let him speak for himself, and if he goes off and devours the population, burn his pieces."

Jane giggled at her suggestion. "Athenodora knows how to take care of things, does she not?" she said, still shaking with laughter. Isabella cracked a smile and actually chuckled slightly.

Jane had noticed her sister's growing sadness over the years. She wasn't sure how to help her Isabella, but she just kept an eye out for her. Jane had whispered her concerns to her brother, who seemed less concerned about his sister than she was. She didn't really understand the reason why, but she just decided to let it go, just as Alec was doing.

"Regardless, let's just keep an eye out for the vampire," Isabella said quietly. "He might just leave in peace. If he stays here, we can deal with him."

The brothers just nodded, Caius and Marcus feeling relieved that Aro was finally giving up on his odd nervousness.

* * *

The unknown vampire never went away. Whenever any of the Volturi coven or guard went into the city for any reason, they still smelled his odd, hyacinth scent. There was an earthiness to his scent as well; it smelled like grass crushed underfoot mixed with some sort of small flower. There was no real sweetness to his scent, but it was floral. It didn't have the spice scent that any of the Volturi had. Isabella, Jane, and Alec had all continued to smell it everywhere, but there was never the scent of blood where the vampire went. They had continuously reported the vampire's comings-and-goings to Aro, but the vampire's actions confounded all of them.

"Does this man never eat?" Jane hissed to Demetri. The two mates were standing in a small alleyway behind an arch. The hallway they found had some sort of underground passage to the castle. They stood in the alley after tracking his scent, but it was too thin. They weren't really able to detect the actual vampire without a strong scent, which could be picked up from prey. Which the vampire never left behind.

Demetri let out a slight sigh. "I don't know," he murmured. "If I had a stronger scent, I could tag onto him and track him down."

Jane stroked his arm softly. "Don't worry about it, Demi," she whispered. "You're doing fine."

The two vampires stood, staring at each other's face, before leaning forward and connecting. Jane leaned into Demetri's larger form, still kissing him, turning their figures into one.

A throat cleared behind them. Demetri and Jane looked up quickly, looking slightly sheepish but more annoyed. Felix was standing a few feet away, his arms crossed, chuckling to himself.

"You're in a public place, you two," Felix reminded. Demetri rolled his eyes, backing away from Jane ever so slightly, just to glare at Felix. "Well, it wasn't occupied by anyone else until now," he retorted.

"Right." Felix shrugged slightly, chuckling. "Anyhow, Aro wanted to know if you can track the intruder. Is there any way that you can track him now?"

Demetri stepped away from Jane, who backed away as well to give her mate more of a chance. Demetri closed his eyes, opening his mind to the world.

"Not really, he's still too distant to track completely." Demetri's shoulders sagged slightly from disappointment. Jane stroked his arm again, this time to comfort him. Felix glanced at the gesture but didn't say anything about it.

"Give it more time, Demi," Jane murmured. He nodded in response, and they continued to stand watch in case their mysterious target somehow, miraculously, showed himself.

The sun went down, the sun came up. Jane and Demetri and Felix didn't budge from their vigil of sorts. They stood, eyes darkening ever so slightly, and allowed the moon and the sun to pass on their daily patterns.

Three days passed. The vampire's scent drifted through the crowds of people passing. Every time, Demetri would perk up and try to find the vampire in question, but it would pass and he would deflate again.

It wasn't until the evening when any of the three abandoned their posts. Isabella had come up and pulled at Demetri. He refused to move, staying at his position as long as possible.

"Demetri, this will help you find the unknown, just _come on_," Isabella implored. Reluctantly, Demetri pulled away and followed Isabella to…wherever she was going.

"Where are we going, Isabella?" Demetri finally asked when they left the city's boundaries. Isabella said nothing, walking a bit slower. They had hit the tree line and were now wandering through the trees.

After a fair amount of walking, Isabella finally stopped in her tracks and turned to him. "This will help your search," she said before showing him what she had found.

Lying in front of her, neck broken, eyes glazed, was a dead deer. It seemed to gaze at a tree. Nothing marred its form except for a single set of two pricks at its neck, where a drop of blood oozed out of each.

It was slathered in the unknown vampire's scent.

Demetri was shocked beyond words. "It survives on animals?" he asked incredulously.

Isabella gave a curt nod. "It seems like it," she replied. "Can you track him based off of this…" she gestured to the animal again, unable to describe in words what she saw. "This," she just said with a note of finality.

Demetri inhaled deeply. The vampire's scent imprinted itself onto his mind and he was suddenly able to pick up where the scent was coming from. He could see the silhouette of the vampire he was now tracking. Isabella noticed his disposition and body stance change; he went from relaxed to ready in a matter of nanoseconds.

"Well, it looks like you can," she chirped from beside him. She patted his shoulder good-naturedly and walked off.

Demetri closed his eyes and allowed the thoughts of tracking fill his mind. He turned and raced back to the arch; while it wasn't on his path, he needed back-up for this. Preferably his mate, family, and friend.

The unknown vampire was wandering through the crowds of Volterra. Demetri began to nonchalantly move towards him, and once Jane, Alec, and Felix noticed what he was walking towards, they joined him. The vampire was now obviously male (they had guessed earlier, but they knew for certain) and had blond hair that poked around a hood he was wearing. Light blond hair, lighter than Jane's, it looked like. He was walking confidently, as though he thought that he would avoid notice. His clothes seemed to cover all of his glistening skin.

They followed the vampire to a building, which seemed to be some sort of inn. They watched as the man went up to a specific room and settled himself in.

The vampire was taking off the hooded cloak he was wearing when he heard the window open. He twisted around quickly to see an open window but no one there.

"Clever," the feminine voice came from behind him. He turned back around with wide eyes.

Jane's widened, as if to match his. "What?" she breathed. The vampire took two steps backwards, eyes alight with fear, and began to run towards the window when Felix suddenly materialized to block his path.

Demetri stood besides Felix and noticed what Jane had.

Alec appeared next to his twin and noticed her shock. "Sister? What is wrong?" he asked in a low voice.

She raised a shaky finger. "H-his…"

Alec followed her finger straight to the vampire's face. He finally saw it.

The vampire's eyes were shining in terror upon seeing the Volturi guard.

His eyes, which glistened like burnished amber.

His eyes, which were gold, not the fiery red that vampires usually had.

* * *

**I'm going to hope you know who our mystery vampire is.**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	22. Darkening: Checkmate, Stalemate

**My summer is slowly drawing to a close, and so is my time to write as much as possible. However, I'll try to write as time goes. Or something.**

**You may hate me for what happens in this chapter, but it was necessary. Sorry.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: Umm, not sure about that side of Carlisle. The two ships I actually liked from the series were Carlisle/Esme and Emmett/Rosalie, so. Also I never really thought that far into Carlisle's life outside of being a doctor/father.**

**Maiannaise: i don't know could it heheheh**

**Matthias Stormcrow: Thanks!**

**natcityjp: Well, their first meeting could have gone better, let's just say that.**

**I am in Loki's Army: I ran out of clips to use now, but I've got two minutes out of three done. So much editing :P**

**MACMONKEY: Here's an update xD**

* * *

The vampire was petrified, it seemed.

Jane recovered quickly from her surprise. "Well, this is interesting," she mused out loud.

"Please, I-I have caused you no harm, just let me go," the vampire was babbling, pleading for his safety. She rolled her eyes.

"We aren't going to hurt you. Um, name please."

"C-Carlisle Cullen, miss," the vampire stammered back.

"I assume you know who we are. And I'm sorry to say that we're going to have to take you back with us, _Signor_ Cullen." Jane gestured to Felix, who lifted Carlisle up with ease and prepared to back out of the room through the window.

"W-what about the room? I still haven't paid…" Carlisle murmured.

Alec raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Well, if you're so worried about the mortals, then," he said quietly, throwing a sack of florins onto the bed as he spoke. "That should cover it. Now, let's move."

Felix grabbed the cloak after some consideration and shoved it onto Carlisle's head. He picked up the now quiet vampire and jumped out of the window into evening.

"Alec," Demetri muttered, prompting the shorter vampire to extend his analgesic tendrils over Carlisle's form. The golden-eyed vampire slumped over, those odd irises of his clouding as Alec's powers took hold. The four guard members nodded slightly and dashed off back to the castle.

Isabella was waiting for them when they got back. "You've got the intruder?" she asked, her eyes zeroing in on the unknown blond's still form. Jane nodded before clumsily embracing her sister and dashing off again.

"What was that about?" Isabella asked Demetri, completely bewildered. He just shrugged. "I honestly have no idea what goes on in her mind, Isabella," he responded before following her into the alley, "my job is to just follow her around and hope she doesn't drive others crazy."

"I thought you were going to say 'My job is to love her' blah blah blah, but then you went and said that," Alec said, running an impatient hand through his hair. Demetri barked out a short laugh at Alec's sarcastic remark, and Isabella laughed under her breath.

They walked through the hallways a bit before Felix stopped, halting them all.

"We should revitalize this guy before Aro speaks to him," Felix rumbled. Alec nodded in agreement and slowly began to take away his numbing from Carlisle's form. The blond vampire was soon able to regain most of his motor functions, although he stumbled time from time as his mind worked to dispel the mist. The vampires now walked in silence, the siblings straying to the back to communicate through looks, looks that only they knew the meanings.

Jane threw open the doors of the throne room dramatically. She, Isabella, and Alec silently strode to the masters' left side as Demetri and Felix shoved Carlisle forward before stepping backwards. Carlisle trembled as he stood by himself in front of Aro's curious gaze, his golden eyes darting from side to side.

"What's this?" Caius demanded upon seeing their unusual color. He glowered at Carlisle. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Excuse me?" Carlisle asked, finally looking up, before cowering before Caius's fiery gaze. "I apologize for my forwardness," the golden-eyed vampire muttered, shrinking into himself.

"Now now, we won't be having any of this, will we, brothers?" Aro stood up from his throne and stepped forward. His eyes never left Carlisle's miserable form. "No," Aro breathed, holding a hand out, as if to help the other vampire up.

Carlisle cringed away from Aro's approach, but accepted the proffered hand. Jane smirked from behind Aro; no one had warned Carlisle of Aro's invasive power, and no rumor had been spread of it thus far.

Aro's eyes glazed over for a second, but he pretended nothing happened as he pulled Carlisle into a fully standing position. Aro was shorter than Carlisle, but his regal stature made it look as though he towered over the new vampire.

"Well then, Carlisle, we welcome you to Volterra," Aro said in a singsong manner, giving the blond vampire a toothy grin.

Carlisle's eyes widened before glancing around, looking for Chelsea, no doubt. "How did you know my name?" he asked.

Aro gave him a more subtle smile this time. "Well, Carlisle Cullen of London, if we told you these things, our secrecy would be thrown to the wind, no? We'll have to find that sire of yours, who I believe is our dear friend George, and give him a firm speaking-to, yes?"

Carlisle was gaping like a fish at Aro's sudden knowledge of everything. "How did you—"

"Never question how, my dear friend. Do you still feel that self-hatred? We can provide you the way out of this existence, if you wish."

Carlisle seemed to just accept Aro's knowledge at this point and shook his head slowly. "I no longer have to worry about the needless slaughter of my people," he said, "and I will somehow get rid of this cursed thirst."

Caius's eyes glinted at this revelation. "Slaughter? Of humans?" The second king arose from his throne. He was shorter than Carlisle as well, but he approached the other vampire quickly nonetheless. Alec was slightly amused at the scene in front of him: a tall, golden-eyed figure hastily backing away from a shorter, red-eyed figure. It was almost comical.

"We _slaughter_, as you so eloquently put it," Caius snarled, "because there is no other way to hone our skills. The thirst will never leave these shells of ours, for it is the price we pay to live for eternity! Our hearts can no longer create the fluids we need, so we must ingest it for ourselves, _do you understand me_?"

Carlisle had ducked his head again. "Yes, of course," he murmured, looking down.

Aro gave Caius a withering look. "Brother, not now," he hissed out. He turned back to Carlisle. "While I would apologize for my colleague's disgust, I must admit that I am now curious." Aro approached Carlisle himself. "What have you done in order to stop feeding on our natural source?"

Carlisle glanced up. "Animals, sir," he responded quietly. "They provide sustenance enough."

"And change your eye color, it seems," Aro added while backing off. Caius glowered at Carlisle one last time before striding back to his seat.

"Yes, so it seems," Carlisle agreed unnecessarily. Caius rolled his eyes as he sat in his throne rigidly.

Aro hummed to himself before turning to the siblings. All three were standing in the same formation as their mentors' thrones: Jane in front, Isabella to her right, Alec to her left.

"Would one of you show Carlisle to an empty room? I wish to speak to him after this next meeting with the King of Bohemia."

Jane perused Carlisle as though he were some sort of painting before narrowing her eyes. "Nay, master, I shall not," she sneered at him. She didn't seem to trust him at all.

Isabella could feel Alec giving her a pleading look and saw Caius look at her fiercely. He clearly didn't want his apprentice involved with the newcomer, and Alec was in no position to volunteer himself or to be volunteered by Aro. She sighed. "You're welcome," she grumbled softly so that only her siblings could hear before raising her voice, "I will, Aro,"

Aro's eyes lit up slightly. "Thank you, Isabella," he said before walking back to his ornate throne and sitting down in it. "We must meet with our friend Leopold for a bit, so clear the room," he commanded.

The guard bowed and left the room, Isabella directing Carlisle away. The golden-eyed vampire wasn't sure why she had volunteered herself, but he was grateful to her.

"Erm, Isabella, was it?" he asked hesitantly.

She turned her steely gaze on him. He was taken slightly aback at the complete apathy in her eyes' crimson depths. "Yes, that is my name," she responded just as coldly.

"Ah, well," Carlisle said, "thank you for helping me, I guess,"

Isabella let out a slight huff of amusement. "I didn't do this to help you," she responded, turning back around and freeing Carlisle from her cold stare, "I did it to help my brother."

"The brown-haired guard?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes, the brown-haired guard," Isabella said, annoyed.

"He's your brother?" Carlisle tried again.

"Yes, he's my brother," Isabella growled back. She refused to say anything other than 'yes' or 'no' to him, merely on principle. She didn't trust outsiders.

Carlisle soon gave up trying to get any sort of information out of his guide. They walked down hall after hall until Isabella stopped in front of a door and threw it open. She began to walk in, but Carlisle hung back. Isabella noticed and rolled her eyes.

"This is your room, Carlisle," Isabella said, practically pulling him in by the wrist. She nearly tore off his arm in the process, not being very cautious at all.

Carlisle tried his best to keep himself intact as Isabella busied herself lighting candles and torches in the room. The room wasn't as large as the guard's, but it was the closest one to the masters' studies. Aro had implied that he wanted his new _guest_ as close as possible, and Isabella only worked to serve his interests.

"The fop," Isabella grumbled to herself, finally lighting the last candle. She stood back up and walked over to the door. Carlisle was still in awe of the architecture of the large room, and he barely noticed her until she was about to leave.

"Are you going already?" he called out.

Isabella turned and gave him a strange look. "Of course I am," she sneered. "It's not like I'm here to be your friend, Carlisle. I serve my mentor and his brothers, and they instructed me to give you quarters. Or, at least, one of them did."

"Who is your mentor?" Carlisle asked. "The blonde girl with you seemed to be Aro's apprentice, at the very least."

Isabella gave a small, genuine smile; it wasn't directed to Carlisle but to a thought in her mind. "My mentor is Marcus, the third brother," she replied. "He is like our father, my siblings and I."

With that, she left the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

* * *

Carlisle seemed to pique Aro's interest, but not anyone else's. If anything, the others didn't quite know what to make of him.

Animal blood rendered the thirst controllable, yes, but it also required constant nourishment. Carlisle had to leave the castle constantly to consume more animals and keep himself under control, while the rest of the Volturi only had to hunt once every fortnight or so. Although Carlisle himself admitted that it was probably easier to consume human blood and give himself more time to continue his studies, he was adamant about the animal blood.

"It's so odd," Alec mused to Isabella one day, "that he starves himself of the nourishment that we all need, isn't it?"

"It's suicidal," Jane had responded. Isabella just shook her head. "I don't know what he's thinking, to be honest," she said. The three had stopped their short conversation when they saw that Carlisle had just entered earshot.

Carlisle was also pressuring them to try the animal blood diet, although he knew that they would always decline. He asked Demetri first; apparently, his choice of clothing made Carlisle think that Demetri was closest to himself.

"Won't you try it, even just once?" he beseeched the previously Egyptian vampire. Demetri given him a slightly confused but mostly cold look.

"I'd rather not, thank you Carlisle," Demetri responded.

"But why not? It is much more humane to drink the blood of animals than it is to drink the blood of humans, is it not?" Carlisle persisted, following Demetri as the latter vampire tried to politely walk away.

"Because it's just not right," Demetri said, closing his eyes and stopping. Carlisle took this as an opportunity to walk around and face Demetri.

"Why do you say that? You're forcing innocent people to die, to meet their Creator before it is even necessary to! Why would you want that, and how can you call it 'right'?" Carlisle asked, baffled.

Demetri shook his head slightly and opened his eyes. "Carlisle, our guest shouldn't be questioning us while he is under our hospitality, hmm? That could be seen to some as ungrateful, you know." With that, Demetri sauntered off, leaving Carlisle to ponder his statement.

Carlisle didn't exactly give up, though. He tried to talk to all of the guards about converting. Chelsea found it hilarious, for her people had myths about human sacrifices long before they had any of blood-drinkers (Carlisle had just left after she started in on her own religion). The other guards simply walked away before he could even say anything, and Carlisle didn't even try to talk to Felix about it.

His last mistake, one that convinced him to never try converting the guards again, was confronting the siblings about changing their habits.

No one had warned him that the siblings had the most powerful offensive and defensive mental gifts of any vampire. They had all assumed that he knew, just from the rumors, but apparently he hadn't had enough contact with other vampires to learn of anything outside of Jane's possible threat. Carlisle underestimated the power of her 'pain.'

He saw the siblings playing shatranj one day and, curious, approached them. At this point, they played by more modern rules, and read the now two-centuries old texts of theories and new names. Although the rest of the world knew the game as 'chess,' the guard found it hard to give up on their old name for it.

Jane refused to learn the new version, as well, and Isabella was trying to teach her. Carlisle was trying to decipher what was going on and why the pieces were moving so slowly.

"Are you three playing chess?" he asked. The three siblings looked up almost in unison, and said nothing. Carlisle found himself in an increasingly awkward situation as he waited for a response.

"This is shatranj," Alec finally said. "Or ζατρίκιον, as Caius would call it," Isabella added in.

Carlisle blinked. "So, not chess?" he asked.

"It was what chess used to be," Isabella answered, turning her attention back to the game. Jane was playing against her, and the two vampires battled against each other for a bit until Isabella won. Again.

"Every time, Isabella!" Jane whined. "Why do you have to be so competitive?"

Carlisle was astonished at the speed the two played at. "I could play you, but not in this version. In the more contemporary version," he ventured.

Isabella leaned back a bit. "Fine then," she responded. "Let's see how well you know this game."

The board was set up with the new pieces that Isabella had purchased. The elephant had been replaced by a horse, and now there was a new piece that had a part on top shaped like a water drop with a notch in it.

Isabella claimed the black pieces. "Your move, guest," she said.

The game moved considerably slower than the previous one had, only because Carlisle spent his time pondering his moves while his opponent waited impatiently. However, Isabella still won, and with only a knight and a bishop.

Carlisle stared at the checkmate. "I'm not even going to ask how you did that," he said, shaking his head.

"If it makes you feel better, she's horrible at War," Alec said nonchalantly, smirking when he saw Isabella glare at him.

Carlisle just shook his head. "You could compete with the humans if you had better control of your thirst," he said.

"Oh, is that why you came here?" Isabella asked, eyebrow raised. "You just want to convince us to join your little _homo-concordia_ cult?"

Carlisle raised his hands in a submissive manner. "That's not what I'm trying to do. I just want you to think about the humans as people, like you and me."

"We aren't people," Jane deadpanned.

"We were," Carlisle retorted.

"You must have been turned recently," Isabella murmured.

"Erm, a few decades ago, yes, but I fail to see why it matters."

"You were turned at a time when humans were human beings," she said, as though it all made sense to her.

"You'll have to elaborate for me," Carlisle said.

"We were born in a time of religious obsession," Jane growled. She was sitting next to her brother, whose body had gone rigid. "We were different. We had a good intuition, one that gave those who helped us the greatest of fortunes and those who dismissed us the worst of luck. The humans in our village couldn't understand why a little girl with such power could lower herself to take bits of glass from the lord's manor and burn small creatures with it, or why a little boy could just stare at the sky and think for himself, or how a girl, slightly older than the other two, could so easily support the others." She was now leaning into an attacking position, fists clenched at her sides, eyes blazing.

Carlisle had gone still.

"They didn't understand that burning those children alive would never get them to hell, if the right people were watching."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea," Carlisle tried to make amends, but he had pushed Jane far too much.

"Of _course_ you had no idea," Isabella responded from the other side of the chessboard. She had picked up one of the duplicate pawns, one which was white as snow, just a shade lighter than her own skin. "No one does, until they realize the truth." She turned her gaze on him.

"There is no way that those villagers can apologize for what they did now. They can only sustain us; that is the only apology we accept."

"That's the wrong way to think!" Carlisle said, trying to reason with them in his own way.

"You were raised to believe that our kind isn't good, that it's evil and will go to hell, weren't you?" Isabella hissed through her teeth, crumbling the pawn to dust in her hand. "You tried to smoke some of us out, tried to kill some of us with your miserable _human_ strength. Now you know that we are unstoppable to the humans. That we are what they want to be, but once they become us, they want to die again, right? You just wanted to _die_ for disobeying your darling father's wishes? We had no mother to please, no father to embrace. Excuse us for hating the humans that didn't protect us from their own hatred," she snarled.

Carlisle had nothing to say again. He was just left gaping at the complete fury thrown at his face.

"That doesn't mean that you have to become like them, though," he tried again.

"There is no way you can try to get us to change." Alec was the only calm one of the siblings, but even he was beginning to flicker with rage. "We are unchanging beacons now, you should know. It's hard to change a vampire."

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't try," Carlisle argued.

"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" Jane shrieked. Isabella barely shielded Alec in time for Jane's internal explosion. A spear of her 'pain' pierced Carlisle and wrenched itself sideways. He fell to the ground, shrieking, writhing with the flames that burned through his bones but was contained within his skin.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW?" Jane screamed. "DO YOU FEEL WHAT WE FELT? FROM THE VILLAGERS WE GREW UP WITH AND WHO RAISED US? DO YOU SEE WHAT THEY DID?!"

"Alec, get Demetri," Isabella instructed. The male twin was petrified; he didn't even move at his sister's voice. "Alec!"

Alec stumbled to his feet and raced out of the room. He returned a second later with Demetri hot on his heels and Renata following them.

"What has she done?" Demetri asked Isabella in a low voice.

"Carlisle may have opened the idea of an animal diet in the worst way possible, regarding our history. And she may have detonated on him."

"To be fair, it wasn't unprovoked," Alec added after his sister spoke.

Demetri sighed. "I didn't think it wasn't," he said, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

He reached forward and hugged Jane's shoulders. She fought to get out of his arms, sobbing and shaking. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Jane trembled even more. "ISA! ISA!"

Isabella's heart broke as she heard her sister's cries for help. She and Alec froze. All three siblings were suddenly thrown back through time to that horrible day, when their village had roped two of them up and forced the third to run into the flames to save her siblings. The day they were betrayed.

Demetri kept whispering in his mate's ear. Slowly, agonizingly, Carlisle felt the pain drip away. By the time he came to, Isabella, Alec, and Renata had vanished. All he saw was Demetri holding his broken mate as the two walked out of the room together.

Carlisle gave one last mournful look before slowly gathering the chess and shatranj pieces and putting them neatly away.

* * *

**This is where you all say "carlisle no. carlisle. stahp."**

**I'll see you next time. ~Shriayle**


	23. Darkening: Old Trials and Tribulations

**For those of you who liked Carlisle's interactions (haha none of you who reviewed seem to like his presence), I apologize, but I have no other ideas for him at this time. I do have flashbacks for you, to when I didn't really want to add certain events in without dealing with the siblings themselves first.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: For whatever reason, I imagine Carlisle as like a missionary. A very annoying one.**

**Maiannaise: CARLISLE. CARLISLE WHAT ARE YOU DOING. CARLISLE NO. CARLISLE. STAHP.**

**Matthias Stormcrow: I feel bad just saying 'thanks' every time, but that's all I can really say to that xD**

**Slytherin of the Sea: Don't get me wrong, I really like Carlisle as a character, I just needed a valid reason for Isabella, Jane, and Alec to dislike him in the future. As they will. And his entire coven.**

**IAILA: I didn't want to type your pen name out :P The trailer is practically done since I got a LOT more footage of Alec/Cameron Bright, which is all I really needed (is that even his name idek). And yep, Isabella consumes our species. I didn't see a reason for her to even think of trying animal blood since Carlisle seems to be the 'index case' for that oddity, so I didn't give her that thing. I really hate Mary Sue Bellas running around. She's a person that makes mistakes, breaks when her siblings are in pain, and fights to protect her family. Like we all should do, at least in our minds.**

* * *

Carlisle treaded much more carefully around the guards after his mishap with Jane. Aro was somewhat disgusted with his guest's behavior; Carlisle had, after all, traumatized Aro's apprentice, something that the older vampire did not really approve of. However, Marcus and Caius had persuaded Aro that forcing the animal drinker out of the castle would spread even worse rumors than those of Jane's abilities.

What puzzled Marcus was that Isabella hadn't immediately defended Carlisle the way she had herself and Alec. Usually, the mahogany-haired vampire tried to protect everyone within reach. However, her reflexes had forced her to protect those dear to her, and Carlisle did not fit under that category.

Isabella was primarily concerned with her harpsichord. She had brought it into her room, and she would sometimes fiddle around with some music by Germans and Englishmen. Once, Alec had walked into her room and picked up a sheet off of the instrument.

"Who's this 'bah-tch' person, anyways?" he pondered aloud, staring at the foreign name and the delicate, artistic dots and lines filling the page.

"His name is pronounced 'bah-ck,' Alec," Isabella had quietly corrected. She made her way towards the harpsichord and sat down on the bench. "He's a mortal person who creates this sort of music as his occupation."

"I wouldn't think that music would become such a popular novelty," Alec commented, putting the paper down. Isabella smiled and shook her head slightly at her brother's naiveté. "Just because you don't appreciate it now doesn't mean you never will."

"Is that a challenge, Isa?" Alec raised an eyebrow at his sister. Isabella gave him a mischievous grin.

"And if it is?" Alec leaned slightly back, crossing his arms.

"Well, then, I'll find some instrument for you and Jane to learn, and you'll just have to try music for yourself," Isabella finished breezily, smiling more widely at his obvious displeasure.

"Fine, then," Alec grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Jane was much more enthusiastic about playing an instrument than Alec was. Isabella came back with a large, oddly shaped box and a small, rectangular one. She revealed them to be a cello and a flute respectively. Jane had picked up the wooden, holed tube and gazed at it wonderingly. Alec had picked up the strung wooden instrument and looked at it doubtfully, along with its thin, stick partner.

Isabella sat back on her bench, smiling subtly. "Are you two ready?"

"Yep!"

"No."

"Alec, stop being so upset about this. It's not becoming."

"Hmph."

Isabella watched their mindless bickering with a hint of a smile darting around her lips. "Are you two quite done yet?" she asked, effectively cutting through their argument.

"Yes," they responded in unison.

"Never do that again, it gets creepier every time," Isabella drawled. Jane began to giggle. Alec just smirked slightly.

The three siblings finally calmed down enough for Isabella to begin teaching the twins how to play their respective instruments. It took only an hour to train them to learn how to handle the instruments properly and delicately, and only another for the twins to understand how to stay in tune on their instrument. Jane took advantage of not really having to breathe with her flute, circulating air through her body to keep passages going without unnecessary breaks.

Alec's dexterity helped him when he learned to play his new instrument. Despite all of his previous bravado and scorn to his sister, he enjoyed playing the cello. Something about its deep resonance echoed within him; all the skills came naturally to him, and the bow he held provided all of the beautiful sound that he could ever have wanted.

Isabella had already been a wonderful harpsichord player, but she heard tell of another instrument, one that didn't require the manual switch from _piano_ to _forte_. It was called, very creatively, the pianoforte. Isabella managed to find one, a grand one, and bring it into her room. She replaced the harpsichord with this instrument, which had been carefully maneuvered through the door, much to Demetri's amusement and Felix's chagrin (he was the one helping her move it in, after all).

Through all of these musical changes, Carlisle said nothing except for quiet praise to the siblings for their talent. Jane snubbed this immediately, Alec took it uncertainly, and Isabella just let it enter through one ear and out the other, not even caring if Carlisle took it personally.

The compassionate animal-drinker didn't know how else to apologize for his attempt, one that ended so badly for all parties involved. Demetri now treated Carlisle with a cold indifference, ignoring the vampire's approaches and refusing to even look at him. Isabella was the only one who even spoke to him, but it had just been a curt apology for Jane's outburst. Alec and Jane didn't trust Carlisle, no more than ever.

The coven wasn't sure what to do with Carlisle now. He had single-handedly managed to isolate the siblings even more, something that Aro was unhappy about. Jane only came to Aro now if he summoned her. Alec had had a better relationship with Caius, but he didn't come as often and when he did, it was merely to ask a brief question to the light-haired Volturi brother. Isabella was the only one who kept her relationship with her mentor. Marcus, who had also been her sire, had always seemed more like a father to her than anyone else, which Carlisle found odd as Marcus appeared only a few years older than Isabella.

Once, the golden-eyes vampire had walked past Marcus's study to hear an unknown laugh from the doorway. He had chanced a look in to see Marcus sitting behind his desk and Isabella standing in front of it, the two reciting an old story and cheerfully recounting their memories. Carlisle had slipped away noiselessly.

It was no surprise to the Volturi coven or guard when Carlisle quietly announced his plans to leave, 24 years after he had initially been brought. He had exhausted all of Aro's resources for his research into the thirst, and he wished to travel around Europe further to ensure that he didn't miss anything before going to Arabia to get into the libraries there. Aro bid him a concise farewell, and the blond vampire left without another trace.

* * *

Aro was pondering his thoughts when Isabella walked into his study. He only glanced up when Renata timidly prodded his arm and broke him out of his stream of consciousness.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Isabella asked, smiling slightly.

Aro was surprised at the mirth on her face. "No, nothing at all, my dear," Aro said distractedly.

"Is something the matter?" Isabella's eyes gradually lost their cheer, which was replaced by confusion.

"Not much. I was just thinking of old times, when you were part of our acting guard, do you remember those centuries?"

"Centuries of boredom, sir," Isabella responded cheekily.

Aro sighed. He held up a single finger. "There was one interesting thing, do you not recall?"

Isabella crossed her arms. "You don't mean to say that you still think of Vasili."

"That I do."

Renata looked up timidly. "Who was Vasilii, Isabella, sir?" she asked.

Aro gave Isabella a beseeching look. "That only works on me if it's from my siblings, Aro," Isabella chided. The older vampire sighed and rubbed his temples, a human habit that had not completely disappeared.

Aro turned to Renata. "Renata, do you remember the ancient laws we told you? Or, at least, that your uncle told you?"

Renata glanced at Isabella, confused, before looking at Aro again. "Well, yes. Don't reveal yourself to humans, don't be an idiot," Renata counted off the two statements on her fingers.

"Is that really what Luca told you?" Isabella cut in.

"Erm, yes, why?"

Aro leaned back slightly, eyes half-closed. "There was one, lesser known credo that we established with our species," he answered quietly. Renata's eyes grew wider and she seemed more attentive.

"The law of the immortal children." Renata looked confused again.

"When a child is below thirteen years of age, they must not be turned into a vampire."

"Why not?"

"Because those are the tender years of temper tantrums, hormones, and not easily harnessed energy," Isabella responded. "There is nothing worse for our existence than the revelation of our kind by an infant."

"We banned them after they proved to be incapable of controlling themselves around humans. They were exquisitely beautiful, and had no qualms about destroying settlements with their anger," Aro continued.

"Such was the problem that Sasha tries to contain in Slovakia. She already had three 'daughters,' you see, one of them her biological grand-niece. The four older females got along beautifully; they were all physically in their twenties and thirties, Sasha was a good coven leader and knew all the laws. And yet, she decided to turn Vasilii."

Isabella winced. "He was too young, far too young. George had to warn Aro and Caius and Master Marcus" (Aro chuckled at the honorific. Isabella gave him a brief glare before continuing) "about Jane and Alec's age, prior to us being turned into torches. But Vasilii lived until he was three before he was reborn.

"There was too much carnage for just the four older vampires. Villages destroyed, bodies thrown about, blood splattered everywhere, venom covering all surfaces. We didn't know what to make of it until Jane heard it.

"An abhorrent _giggling_ sound from within the rubble."

Renata sat stock-still, not even blinking.

Aro continued the story. "He was within the confines of a house, playfully batting at a pool of blood that grew in size as a young girl, not yet a woman, bled from her neck, eyes unseeing, right next to him. His face was smudged with blood, and he was mirthfully laughing. It was horrendous, yet somewhat adorable to see.

"He looked up and saw Jane, who had by then tried to get away from the pool of blood. In that instance, Jane noticed his eyes and ran back to alert me. When the rest of us returned, Sasha had come back and was trying to flee with Vasilii."

Isabella closed her eyes.

"We couldn't let her go," Aro's voice grew heavy. "We liked Sasha. She was charismatic and diplomatic, and a great leader. Yet she exposed us. There were too many rumors about the insatiable, blood-drinking monster that lurked in Slovakia. We couldn't let those rumors travel anywhere else and get any more of our brethren chased by their own prey."

"We confronted Sasha," Isabella whispered, her eyes darker as she thought of the day. "We asked her why she had let it happen. She told us quietly that she had always wanted a child to love, to nurture, that this was her dream before mortality was ripped away from her. She couldn't bear it, and when she saw the orphaned child wandering a village, she had to change him.

"By this time, her daughters had arrived. They were horrified at what they saw. Aro checked all three of them and made sure that they didn't know of Vasilii until that day."

Sulpicia walked into the room, stopped upon hearing the last sentence, and turned and walked out, eyes darkening. Aro shook his head slightly at his wife's reaction. "Of course," he muttered.

"I told Caius to prepare the pyre. Isabella went over to the sisters and calmly asked if they would please not interfere, or their existences would have to be terminated. It was Isabella who offered them comfort as they watched their sire burn, the boy still in her iron grip."

Renata looked saddened by this image. "It's horrible that some want to fulfill their selfish desires, even risking hundreds of other lives as they did so."

Isabella just gave her a sad smile. "It's why we exist, Renata," she murmured to her brother's mate, "we need to make sure that others don't fall in the same trap as our friend Sasha did."

Aro shook his head again, this time sighing as he did so. "The story of Vasilii spread due to Tanya, Irina, and Kate. They made sure everyone knew what would happen if the Volturi caught a vampire with an immortal child. They then fled to Siberia to start a new life. From what I know, they were and remain to be law-abiding vampires, never being spotted in the six centuries since their mother's demise."

The three vampires remained silent before Isabella offered Renata a hand. "I believe that Heidi will have brought in more criminals to feast on," she said quietly. The vampires had a deal with the local law enforcement to get all those punished with death. "Let us go join her."

The three exited the office, closing the door gently behind them as they returned to the throne room.

* * *

**This time, it should be "SASHA NO. SASHA. STAHP" in your brains, heh.**

**I updated the webcomic with a couple of things. You should go check it out. It shows some of my odder ramblings.**

**The trailer should be completed soon! I have a music video thing done, but I'm thinking about turning it into a thirty second trailer too, as an actual trailer. I just might do that. Heh.**

**Until next time! ~Shriayle**


	24. Darkening: Return from the Forgotten

**Do you know what's not fun? School, that's what. For those of you who tried to guess my age (all two of you), I'm a senior in high school over here in America as of right now. And I'm telling you, between homework, extracurriculars, and college essays, my time has completely escaped me. Ugh. I'm not even halfway done with this story! Well, I'm close to it I guess.**

**I have deleted the last author's note and posted this instead. For those of you who didn't take the odd hiatus to read through it, a few things:**

**Firstly, I have finished the trailer. The url is now on my account, under the section for this story. If you haven't yet already, be sure to check it out! Maybe I'll make an extended trailer once this story has been finished.  
**

**Secondly, I will be doing NaNoWriMo this year and will therefore not update pretty much at all during November xD I'm so sorry about this added distraction guys~~**

**Thirdly, I haven't updated it recently, but the Smackjeeves site will contain small bonuses from time to time. Check it out every couple weeks or so for thoughts I can't put into the story.**

**Finally, I have decided on a mate for Isabella! It is a male vampire that is not an OC. However, he was also not a part of the poll. You can have fun guessing, but I won't tell you if you're right or not! You'll just have to wait until he appears.**

**REPLIES:**

**Maiannaise: Sasha was just a little bit too greedy, hmm?**

**Arabella Whitlock: Read the AN above!**

**IAILA: I'm just calling you that from now on haha. Anyhow, Isabella just has a natural sisterly bond to whoever she feels is part of her family. And that includes a rather protective nature :3**

**Slytherin of the Sea: I have indeed changed the siblings' personalities a bit. As my earliest notes say, "Jane is not as violent due to Isabella's caring nature. Alec is a bit less acerbic."**

**Sandra46: Thanks for reading :D Also, sorry, but what does ofs mean? I have absolutely no idea .-.**

**Okay, we're done with that stuff, here's the story now!**

* * *

There wasn't much that could easily annoy Demetri. However, there were, ah, a few things. Namely, hearing the same thing over and over again. As much as it pleased Demetri that his lovely mate could be so enamored by a simple thing as a metal tube with holes and buttons, he couldn't comprehend why she just kept. Repeating. The. Same. Thing. Over. And. Over. Again.

"Jane?" Demetri ventured. The blonde vampire paused in her repetitive exercise and put her flute down an infinitesimal bit. "What is it?" she asked. Demetri got vaguely distracted by her voice. He had been listening to the whistling flute sound for hours, and now her voice sounded even more like music to him than it had before.

"See, I love your music, and I love your enthusiasm," Demetri began. Jane raised an eyebrow at him. "But can't you vary your music a bit?"

Jane laughed slightly. "I've only got two pieces from Isabella, Demi," she said teasingly, as if she didn't understand what he was saying. Demetri groaned and leaned back slightly, covering his face with a hand.

"Jane, learn new music," Demetri said bluntly, to her complete amusement. She began to laugh even harder, barely keeping herself upright. Soon, Demetri joined in with her, and the two just laughed together for no reason except for Demetri's snide comment.

Jane opened her eyes slightly, slowly recovering from her laughing fit, and she gave her room a cursory glance. Much like Isabella, Jane had made a few trips out to bazaars and furnished the room. Demetri did have some say as well; his touch was visible in the style of the paintings on the walls and in the way the furniture was carved. Yet, the colors and beauty were all of Jane's taste. The two parts were complementary, much in the way the two mates were. They brought out the other's gifts beautifully.

The room was decorated in shades of gold and white and black, much to fit the carpet they got when they first got to the castle. The most common wood was ebony with ivory inlays that they had found, and Renaissance style paintings covered one specific wall. Jane had found a way to inlay golden patterns into the walls that looked sort of like stylized fire to cover the walls and the furniture, and Demetri had managed to get the patterns even onto the ceiling (no one asked any questions).

Jane stopped her admiring when she felt a pressure on her back. She turned to see that Demetri had gone behind her and was now leaning against her back. His chin was just under where her neck ended and he was staring straight at her. If she were still human, she knew she would be covered in gooseflesh from the contact, but all she could do was stare right back.

Demetri nuzzled her a bit more. "What was that you were playing on that flute of yours, anyways?" he asked, bringing his arms around and hugging her midsection. Jane leaned back into his embrace.

"A Mozart flute concerto. Number 1 in G Major."

"Mm," Demetri just hummed without really acknowledging what he said. Jane sighed slightly. "You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?"

Demetri just smirked slightly and shook his head merrily. Jane squirmed as his hair brushed against her neck as he did so. "Demi," she whined, prolonging his name as she tried not to chortle. She could hear his muffled snicker from behind her. She turned to him, flute forgotten in her lap.

Meanwhile, Alec was practicing his own pieces in his room. Unlike Demetri, Renata was enchanted by Alec's repetitive playing. She stared unblinkingly at his bow as it darts across the strings of catgut, at his fingers that fly across the fingerboard. When he finally ends the piece with a final flourish, Alec glanced up to see Renata, arms hugging her knees viciously to her chest as she looked at him with wide, wondering eyes.

"Ren? Are you okay?" Alec ventured nervously.

There was a moment of silence and then…

"Alec! That was amazing! Do it again! Do it again!"

Alec blinked at his mate's whole-hearted appeal. He froze before smiling easily and shaking his head. "If you insist…" he said teasingly. She nodded enthusiastically before curling back up and watching him play.

Alec played a different piece this time, but he decided to try something as he approached the song's end. Renata obviously loved the music he was reluctant to play, and although he was still ambivalent about the cello, he was willing to do anything to please his mate.

The male vampire took a deep breath and tried adding a melody of his own. He tentatively modulated into a new key signature and played on, gaining confidence as he did so. The cello hummed along, vibrating with the notes as Alec demanded more and more of it. His fingers flew over the wood, sounding harmonics and gliding up scales. Finally, when he ran out of things to try, Alec reluctantly ended the piece with a long chord, played on two strings.

"What piece was that, Alexander?" Renata asked. Alec grinned slightly at the name, the name that only Renata could use without being reprimanded.

"It started out as an unaccompanied piece by some German composer," Alec said, "but I made up the rest."

Renata openly gaped at him. "You made that up? How? Why?" She hammered him with questions. Alec had never heard her say so much before in his entire existence.

"Er, well, I—" He was thrown as he searched his mind desperately for answers. "I, uh, made it for you," he finished, realizing that his statement rang with truth.

He wanted to show Ren what he could do. He wanted her to appreciate the melody he created, to hear how much he loved her.

And he did. She looked about to cry from shock at his revelation.

"F-for me?" she whispered.

Alec scratched the back of his head, a nervous expression blossoming on his face. "Well, uh, erm, yes," he said haltingly. "Is that a bad thing?"

Renata was frozen before she launched herself at him. All Alec could do was quickly put his instrument down before she had completely knocked him over from the force of her embrace. Alec almost instinctively hugged her back, feeling her shiver next to him.

"What's wrong, Ren?" he asked quietly.

"I-it's just, no one's ever done that kind of thing for me," she said between tearless sobs. Alec blinked at the revelation.

"Ren, we have each other now," Alec said quietly into her ear. "I could make up an endless melody for you, one that would last days and days, just thinking about your voice, or your face, or your hair. I could do it, because you are what I treasure most in the world."

Renata shuddered again at his quiet passion. "Thank you, Alec," she whispered. The two stayed linked together in a lasting embrace.

* * *

Isabella stared at a passing dust mote. Aro had asked her to sit at the front desk as a first line of protection while the two of them trained Renata. Ever since the first training session that Isabella discovered, she didn't let Aro anywhere near her brother's mate without her. Although she understood Aro's reasoning now, she didn't trust him around her. And he understood her reasoning and knew her capabilities and let her do as she wished.

"E-excuse me?"

Isabella turned her attention from the dust mote to the faraway figure. The woman was standing on the far end of the hall. Her hair was a fine red the color of unripe strawberries and danced around her face. Her skin was as pale as the full moon that shone through the windows.

And her eyes glowed as red as a field of poppies.

Isabella became alert immediately. She set up her shield as discretely and quickly as possible before cautiously getting up. She never lost eye contact with the stranger.

"Yes, may I help you?" She cursed her own red eyes, a dead giveaway for any knowing soul.

The woman looked at her despondently yet hopefully. Isabella observed her facial features one more time; for some reason, the other vampire had traits that seemed almost familiar to Isabella.

"I-I need to see the masters. They need to know about me," the unknown vampire said quickly, biting her lip as though embarrassed. Isabella recognized it as a survival tactic: the vampire had picked up human traits to stay disguised. But why?

"I'm sorry, they are rather busy with running the castle, can I take a message?" Isabella asked coldly, standing up from behind the desk.

The woman rushed over to her and clasped a hand. "Please, I beg of you, let me see them! Let me see him!" she beseeched, almost sobbing, trembling with anticipation. Isabella blinked. Now that the woman was closer, she recognized the features immediately.

"Pardon, but are you Lady Didyme?" Isabella asked slowly. The vampire's eyes widened and she threw Isabella's hand back at her.

"How do you know of me?" she whispered. Isabella's eyes glanced over her petite form, her powdery complexion, her glistening scars, before making eye contact again.

"You cover the memory room," Isabella offered in response. Didyme let out an unnecessary breath.

"Then you must know why I need to see the masters," she said. Isabella closed her eyes and wordlessly let Didyme into the shield.

"Yes, I do," Isabella responded. "Nothing should be more important as of now." She took the other vampire by the hand and brought her down endless hallways, staircases, and doors until she approached the familiar ornate, Baroque style door. She pushed it open, making a loud groan that attracted the masters' attention.

"Please stay here while I inform the masters that there is a visitor for them," Isabella requested formally.

Didyme looked confused for a brief second.

"I want to see their reactions," Isabella admitted. Didyme giggled slightly.

Isabella walked in, throwing the doors open somewhat dramatically. The three brothers were pouring over papers, discussing certain paragraphs in fervent Latin. Aro, Caius, and Marcus glanced up immediately. Aro's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Isabella?"He asked. She never seemed to be the hasty type, and her throwing the doors open seemed more characteristic of her sister. Isabella tried to compose herself.

"Masters, there is someone here to see you," she said, trying her hardest not to sound too enthusiastic about their visitor.

"Well, tell them to leave until our appointed times. We are working on revitalizing Volterra," Caius said tersely. His white hair had been swept out of place and now stood slightly on end. Isabella deduced that their negotiations were not going very well. "We do not want _visitors_," he sneered in disgust, "as of right now. They are a distraction that we cannot put up with."

"Nay, sir, I believe that you would want this distraction, as you call it," Isabella said, not looking at Caius, but at Aro beside him. Aro seemed hesitant, but nodded a second later. Isabella bowed and stepped out, gesturing to Didyme beside her.

When the strawberry blonde vampire walked into the room, the atmosphere immediately changed. All three of the brothers were frozen in time. Caius seemed only shell-shocked, his eyes slightly widened, staring straight at the lost queen. Aro's mouth was open and slowly turning up at its corners, turning his gape into a silent shout of exuberance. Marcus…

Marcus was the most shocked of all. Shocked was an unacceptable understatement: his eyes flew open, staring straight at his mate, once thought dead, and his form was stuck between sitting down and standing up, as if he thought she was a mirage and that moving towards her would only make her vanish, even though moving to her side was the only thing he wanted to do.

Didyme was looking at Marcus lovingly from her spot by the room's door. Isabella looked on from her place by a pillar, her presence completely forgotten.

The five vampires stood stock-still until finally, after agonizingly long seconds, Aro was able to choke out a single word.

"Sister?" he whispered, wetting his lips unnecessarily as he stared at his younger sibling. Didyme's face lit up in a wide smile, her red eyes dancing and looking slightly glazed over, as if she was tearing up. She clutched her hands to her chest and gave a single, slight nod before laughing excitedly. The mood lifted; all three kings smiled and ran over from their thrones, paperwork forgotten and fluttering around the base of their chairs.

Aro had caught Didyme up in an embrace that swept her off her feet and into the air. He was roaring with laughter, she was giggling along with him. The chorus of glee was cut off only when Didyme landed on the ground, right in front of Marcus.

"_Amor meus?_" he said faintly, lifting one hand as if to caress her face, to ascertain that she was real. Didyme smiled and lifted the hand to her cheek. "_Vivo_," she simply responded. Marcus gave a breath of laughter, a smile stretching across his face, and he swept his mate into his arms. Isabella could see his age visibly slip away, the wrinkles smoothing out, the constant bored grimace replaced by a glow of joy. "_Amor meus, amor meus,"_ was the only thing he could seem to say. Didyme merely hummed in response, in her mate's arms again.

Caius was the only one who didn't join in the festivities. After standing by and watching the reunion, he walked over and joined Isabella, who gave him a surprised look.

"Won't you go join in?" she asked.

He shook his head. "As much as I love her as family and Athenodora adores her as a sister, I have no blood or mating bond to Dyme," he responded. Isabella noted the nickname with an internal smile. "Everyone loves her, and I expect I will be able to talk to her later." He glanced over at her and smirked. "Although, I might have to wait a long while. The gods know that Marcus has."

Isabella shook her head in somewhat grudging respect. "Only men could think that way about reuniting with a lover," she responded. Caius just chuckled at her exasperation.

* * *

**Even if he is a king, Caius is still a man with man's thoughts, it seems.  
**

**Thanks for reading! I'll try to update again soon~~**

**~Shriayle**


	25. Darkening: The Truth About Fairytales

**I like Didyme as a character. She will not be killed off xD She's too awesome for that, heehee!**

**Not much else to say here, so have some REPLIES:**

**(I tried to reply to some of you through PM a while ago, so I hope this is enough)**

**Arabella Whitlock: Thanks for that comment by the way. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!**

**Hannah: Here's the chapter you've been waiting for about our long-lost queen, then!**

**Guest: No killing Didyme, yes. I like Didyme.**

**Alice (Guest): Thanks for your support! I implied in an earlier chapter that Didyme didn't die, but was whisked away by no one knows what. And now everyone shall know, muahaha. Isabella's character is a fun one to work with; she exhibits unconditional love and indifference depending on the person. Sometimes she's friendly, but it's on her own terms. I didn't like the character of Bella in the series, if you can't tell. Yes, her mate will be non-OC, but he won't come about for a while yet, unfortunately for some of you. I do approve of the character I chose though! I hope I can make the scene as amazing as I imagine it, though.**

**Guest: No, Edward will not be her mate. I mentioned this in literally the second chapter, and I haven't changed my mind a modicum. Sorry. Edward will have a 'mate' though. It's complicated.**

* * *

After precisely twenty seconds, the entire castle knew of the queen's return. They were then instructed to stay silent about her return by none other than the queen in question.

"Why shouldn't we tell anyone, dear?" Marcus had asked, puzzled. He had become much more active in his existence now that Didyme had returned, and he of course wanted to share his happiness with everyone he knew. Or didn't know. He didn't particularly care, as long as everyone knew that _she was back_.

Didyme had embraced him in response, her arms interlocking around his neck. "Because, Marcus," (he exulted in the way her voice seemed to chime when she said his name) "I didn't come back because I wanted to after centuries of solitude. I had to escape from dangers before returning home."

Marcus had sat up rigidly, anger blazing in the eyes, a welcome sight to anyone else as they hadn't expressed emotion at all for the past hundreds of years. "What kind of dangers, Didyme?" he thundered, hatred rolling off of him in waves.

Caius had then swept over, having sensed the extreme build-up of emotion, and suggested to Didyme to 'get the hell out of here before Marcus explodes all over the floor'.

Isabella still couldn't believe that her mentor's wife had returned. It was practically a miracle. She had seen the numerous paintings that Aro and Marcus had done of her, taking random moments with her and painting them on canvases too vast to move elsewhere. Sometimes, the wives, or more likely Caius, had to drag them out in order to conduct business.

Now, the laughing vampire of the paintings and drawings had returned to her home. Never again would she leave her mate's side.

_What a happy ending,_ Isabella thought absently.

Didyme also thought of the girl she had first met, the apparent receptionist. While the guards and coven welcomed her, none did so more than her mate and that female vampire. Who was she? Why was she so excited to see her? Didyme could sense delight and happiness and manipulate them the same way Caius could direct anger. She had felt the rolling waves of joy from the figure, joy she seemed to no longer exhibit. Didyme couldn't really understand how someone who once was so happy could now feel none of that previous emotion.

She didn't know what the other peculiar emotion that Isabella wore like her pendant was. It was the feeling that she sensed when she saw a lion poised over its prey. It was the feeling she sensed when she saw a wolf at the front of its pack. It was a desire, but not a happiness.

She didn't understand that Isabella's apparent lack of happiness came from the overwhelming protective nature that coiled about her like a mist.

Didyme set off to find the mysterious brunette guard. She found the vampire in her husband's room.

Curiously, Didyme stood as far as she could in order to hear the conversation.

"Isn't it wonderful, Isabella? A queen has returned to Italy. You should be more happy about it. Come, let's see you smile!"

Didyme smiled at Marcus's infectious happiness.

"Nay, sir," the girl responded, amusement tinting her figure and her words. "You know I smile for you, why do you demand it?"

"I can hear the birds sing again, my apprentice, I can feel the wind dance through the air, I can sense the beauty of the relationships and bonds that form in front of me, I can _live_ again, dear!" Marcus punctuated his statement with a carefree laugh.

The words both uplifted Didyme and tore through her heart like a dagger. Did he really forget how to live in her absence? Could she have escaped sooner and returned to him, ending his pain? What could she have done?

"Yes, sir," the girl spoke again. Didyme could hear her move across the room, putting books up and straightening things by only a modicum. "You are much more cheerful. You've said more in the past hour than I've heard you say in the last century."

These added quips struck Didyme again. She could barely remember the dull pain from being torn away from Marcus before, although it was for a _good reason, damn it all,_ and she knew she would do so again in a heartbeat. But her dear Marcus had suffered for it. If she could prevent that pain from arising, she would have gone back.

But would she have changed her mind?

Didyme wasn't sure she knew the answer. She wasn't sure she wanted to know if she knew the answer.

The conversation continued on light-heartedly, until Didyme finally heard the girl say, "Well, it looks like I'm off now, sir. _Á demain, monsieur._"

Didyme blinked at the sudden French words (a language she woefully had to become fluent in) but presumed correctly that it pertained to some earlier memory that her mate and this vampire shared, for Marcus chuckled before bidding her his farewell.

Didyme uncertainly followed the brown-haired vampire for a bit, hanging back a few hundred meters, when the other vampire glanced back and stopped walking.

"My lady?" she called out, her voice higher-pitched in confusion. Didyme bit her lip when she was found, but hurried to the other vampire's side.

"Yes, and you are? I do not believe I caught your name when the masters said it, I'm afraid," she said softly. Isabella started slightly; the other queens were nowhere near as demure as Didyme was. Athenodora was prideful and strong-willed. Sulpicia was flighty but dependable. As of yet, Didyme was a mystery to Isabella.

"I am Isabella, _madame_. Pardon me for not telling you earlier," Isabella said with a slight bow. Didyme seemed to become almost...

_Embarrassed? _Isabella thought curiously.

"Please, just call me Didyme. I never got used to those high-named titles. I was born a peasant, and I refuse to lower anyone to that level," the red-haired vampire said, babbling slightly. Isabella nodded in agreement, her brow knit in confusion.

"Where were you going to, Isabella?" Didyme asked, desperate for some sort of conversation.

"I was going to play my piano, in my room," Isabella answered quietly.

Didyme's eyes lit up. "Like Jane and Alec?" she asked.

Isabella nodded, her expression guarded. "They are rather good, aren't they?" Didyme continued, not noticing Isabella's emotions shift.

"Yes, they are," Isabella said, a hint of pride appearing in her words. It was an inflection that Didyme noticed.

"They are rather wonderful, the twins are," Didyme persisted.

"Yes. My brother and sister are the most important figures in my life," Isabella said, closing her eyes, a smile faintly appearing on her lips.

"Brother and sister?" Didyme asked before catching herself. She observed Isabella more closely; she finally noticed the similar eye shape, the facial structure, the proud expression. The three couldn't be closer to siblings, although Isabella looked quite a bit different from the other two.

"Yes, well, our village always said that I resembled my mother more and they our father," Isabella said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"They are simply adorable with their mates," Didyme said sighing. Isabella smiled more easily and nodded, thinking of Demetri's impish humor and Renata's soft-spoken warmth. Both of them were as much her family as her siblings were, and she defended them fiercely.

"What about you, Isabella? In these past few hours, I have learned of all the guards but you," Didyme said softly. Isabella's pace slowed noticeably.

"Well, I do not yearn for a mate the way many do," the younger vampire said uncertainly.

"How so?" Didyme persisted. Isabella blew some air out of her nose and thought her response through before answering.

"Erm," she began hesitantly, "Aro tells me there are two bonds among vampires: mating bonds and parental bonds."

Didyme gestured for her to continue, an encouraging smile on her face.

"Mating bonds are far more common. Every vampire is destined to have a mate bound to them, a soul mate if you will. They don't always have to be romantic, but they tend to be. Mates are literally your other half. Once you have met him or her, you will be unable to live without them; the pain will feel too great, the emptiness too vast. Many mates find it easiest to be physically close to their mate, hence why they tend to become more romantic or sexual. There are still cases, albeit extremely rare, where two twins become mates and merely live out their existences together, needing no one else, depending on only one another. Same-gender mates can also be equivalent to the 'best friend' or 'soul sibling' relationship" (here, Isabella held up her fingers and clenched them briefly to make apostrophe marks in the air) "although they are, again, usually romantic in the end. Many vampires physically search for their mate when not hunting or leading their coven.

"Parental bonds are much rarer, but still documented. An older vampire, or usually a mated pair, find a physically younger vampire and feel protective of them. It's more of a survival instinct than anything, an old animal instinct not destroyed by venom. The older vampire becomes the younger's mind parents, with the same responsibilities and expectations as blood parents have. It's why the immortal children are so irresistible; at that age, everyone wants to protect the children. They forge parental bonds with anyone that had prolonged contact with them.

"Then there's us. Jane, Alec, and I. According to Marcus, there has never before been a case of siblings being turned within seconds of each other, and by the same sire. It has apparently made a stronger bond between us, almost like the mate bond. While we are not each others' mates, obviously, we can't live without the other. If one of the twins or I were to perish, the other two would be unable to live and would either become the animated corpse Marcus used to be" (Didyme winced) "or kill ourselves, the way Renata's uncle did. Marcus believes that the sibling bond we have is more powerful than even the mating bond, because we have known each other from longer and share the connection of blood. So, you see, I do not long for a mate for as long as I have my siblings. If he or she were to even think of threatening Alec or Jane, I would most likely tear them from limb to limb without a twinge of remorse, as long as my siblings are okay.

"Then again, this is all just a theory."

Didyme nodded at the sudden influx of information. "It's a viable theory," Didyme mused.

The two vampires were standing in front of a somewhat plain door, plain for the castle at least. "Well, these are my chambers," Isabella said, smiling. "Perhaps we shall speak to each other again soon, Lady Didyme." She closed the door quietly.

"Don't call me that," Didyme grumbled. She could hear the peals of laughter coming from the other side of the door.

* * *

"Sister?"

Isabella turned. So did Didyme.

The two female vampires had become rather close friends. They had been changed at approximately the same age, which was a welcome difference for Isabella. The last person so close to her age was, surprisingly, Marcus, who had appeared almost middle-aged from the grief that crushed him before Didyme returned. After she came back, he bloomed once again, the dead plant coming back to life with the careful addition of some drops of water.

"Yes, brother?" Didyme asked. It had been Aro to utter the hesitant title and claim Didyme as his sibling. He looked uncharacteristically nervous.

"If you will," he said quietly, "why did you not return to us, Dyme?"

Didyme's face fell and reformed itself into a reserved, distant gaze unfamiliar to Isabella. Aro grimaced as though he had expected it. Didyme glanced at him with wary crimson eyes.

"Are you sure you want to know?" she asked quietly.

Aro nodded. "But not here. We must speak to everyone. It is only fair."

Didyme nodded. Aro glanced at Isabella and gestured for her to encompass him with her shield, which she did so promptly.

The thoughts came indistinctly as they always did. Aro thought of the faces of the guards and the other brothers-Isabella was still awestruck by how _alive _Marcus looked-and imagined Isabella going to them and bringing them back to the very spot that she stood in. She saw him imagine a table being carried in by Felix and Demetri, and chair materializing from somewhere, and all of them sitting around it. His thoughts had a hidden command: _Do it, Isabella._

She retreated from his mind and bowed slightly, going off to do as he wished.

Soon, the vampires were sitting around an oblong table that Felix had brought in (Demetri was supposed to help him, but all he really did was sit on the table and look arrogantly proud, making Jane giggle, Alec roll his eyes, and Isabella sigh). Didyme was sitting between Marcus and Athenodora.

Aro glanced at his sister. "Didyme, when you're ready," he commanded quietly, seeing that everyone had settled down.

Didyme nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "Okay, let's try for this," she murmured to herself.

She closed her eyes. "You all know of my _departure_."

Her words had an immediate effect. Almost at once, everyone else stopped talking, moving, or breathing. All the vampires crowded around the table became statues.

Marcus laid his hand on top of hers and squeezed her fingers comfortingly. She gave him a quick, thankful smile.

"It was instinctual," Didyme said, sounding distant and far-off. "I saw them attack my brother and his mate. I knew my mate was next to me, but I had to help him. He would die without my help. I didn't care for anything else except for his well-being."

Aro's expression hardened at her words. Isabella caught the inexplicable pain that shone through his eyes. It was an unmistakable anguish, that he was somewhat the cause for his sister's disappearance.

Didyme's eyes had misted up, and her words became detached, as though she didn't want to remember everything. "They were werewolves. Mid transformation. Many still looked like nude men, others were turning into wiry, hirsute creatures right in front of me. Sulpicia was screaming. Aro was covered in scratches, bleeding out venom. He looked exhausted. In one second, he glanced up and saw me and Marcus. In that one second, I lost control of my actions.

"I can't explain what happened. One second, I was standing with my mate, watching in horror as my brother was being practically torn apart. The next, I had thrown myself at the entire mass of werewolves, those Children of the Moon, and I was ripping them to shreds. There were too many for me to fight myself. I could hear Marcus shout for Caius and Athenodora, for Felix and Chelsea and Afton, but it was too late. The two remaining werewolves, the only two that escaped my slaughter, caught me and forced me into submission before fleeing.

"They ran for days. I saw them turn back into humans and immediately tie masks on their faces so that I wouldn't know who they were. They starved me, knowing that whatever witchcraft flowed in their veins was unappetizing to me. For centuries, they kept me with them to draw in new members of their pack.

"I lost myself in those many long years. I couldn't think for myself. I think one of their Turned must have a gift similar to our Alec's here, because my mind was always sluggish and fogged, I couldn't feel anything.

"One day, recently, they lost this member to a ravenous pack of wolves. Real wolves. Ironic, isn't it? I took this chance to run away from them, the one time I could control what I thought, and I ran before they could snare me again.

"One of them _fancied_ me," she spat out the word as though it was poison. "He was always leering at me, hungering for my figure, my hair. Not even the eyes deterred him. The skin was a plus because their monstrous strength destroyed their mortal lovers. One jerk, and what started as something filled with lust and passion ended with cold death. My durability fascinated them. They tried to make me turn other women into blood-drinkers, practically make prostitutes of my kind. I refused. I didn't let them. I couldn't let them. All I could think of was returning to this castle. Which I did. As you can tell." For the first time, she cracked a small smile. Marcus gripped her hand even harder, his expression stony.

The other vampires let the silence settle over them. Renata leaned into Alec, who extended a protective arm around her. Jane began to furiously engage Demetri in conversation over the topic. Heidi whimpered; Felix growled in reassurance. All throughout the circle, mates comforted one another.

Isabella was the only one who wasn't held, or cuddled, or anything else. She was fine with that. She accepted Didyme's stories.

But she couldn't help but feel utterly alone in the world full of mated pairs that she observed in front of her.

* * *

**And there, we shall leave it off.  
**

**In case anyone was curious, Didyme and Aro share a sibling bond. However, because he was her sire, it isn't as strong as the siblings'.**

**Isabella's starting to feel uncertain about her single-ness, it seems. This will be the last time in a rather long time that she thinks of it, for your information, so don't get your hopes up ;3**

**~Shriayle**


	26. Darkening: Smoldering

**Your eyes aren't failing you, it's a new chapter! A rather short one, though. Also the last one of the DARKENING act! After this will be definitively two more. We're close to halfway done with this fic now, which is sad and liberating at the same time. I am finishing up initial research into _Heir of Ravenclaw_, which will be released after this fanfiction ends.**

**I've decided that I'm not going to upload a new chapter without at least 3 reviews now. I rely on your feedback to see how events will unfold. For example, I'm actually introducing a mate for Isabella, although my initial notes were against giving her a mate at all. If you want to see newer updates, please review with your opinion! It doesn't have to be praise at all. I just want to let you readers have more control over what kind of story you expect this to be and either go with that expectation or go against it.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: You've pretty much hit the nail on the head there with Isabella's thoughts :3**

**Guest: Yes, actual werewolves! And plot! No weird shapeshifters! Yay!**

**megan (Guest): Now, if I told you who I was pairing her with, wouldn't that ruin the fun? ;)**

* * *

Isabella wandered through the hallways of the castle. She was slowly making her way to the memory room, the place of art and dreams and pain and death.

Ever since Didyme had returned to the castle, the room was no longer full of her portraits and dancing visages. Other memories had resurfaced: images of gardens filled with colorful flowers and butterflies, floating away on a child's whimsical imagination; depictions of the Roman army, in which Caius had been a soldier, from dirty barracks to glorious battles with warriors on foot and on horseback to beautiful images of the ocean framed by burning corpses and solitary torn flags; the forest that the siblings had woken up in; Jane with a crown of yew berries perched on her head, a cocky grin painted onto her face; Renata with her uncle, eyes looking scared as she gazed at the taller figure.

Isabella hadn't really contributed to the gallery. How could she, when her emotional bases were solely her siblings? What else was there for her to try and recall? But now, she remembered her past as a human, and she found herself meandering into the marble room and opening the door with a grimace.

She settled herself down with a set of paints and paintbrushes and small canvas scraps. She closed her eyes for a split second before dipping a paintbrush into a pigment and beginning to make preliminary strokes on the cloth.

Figures appeared from her mind's eye. The clergyman, the one that she had gone to for assistance, the one that had asked her to abandon her siblings, the first human she'd ever consumed. The villagers, who had taken her siblings to the scaffold to be burned, who had never really shown them kindness. Marcus, the first of his kind to visit her. Aro, the sire that wasn't their father. All of the other vampires bloomed into existence on the scraps of cloth.

The two that dominated most of them were her dear siblings. The twins adorned countless portraits that she had remembered: Jane as a three-year-old, lips slightly pouting as she almost shyly yet coyly glanced up at Isabella with wide blue eyes, eyes that Isabella sometimes missed; Alec at five-years-old, lying on the ground, staring at the sky. Jane leaning over a mound of ants with a piece of glass held in her hand. Alec's eyes straining to read from a book that Isabella had obviously tried to make him read. Jane's face scrunched up as she tried to pronounce the French that their father had once spoken to their mother. Alec picking flowers and throwing them into the air again, smiling when the petals rained down.

Isabella couldn't stop painting the two figures that had ruled her life. She painted Jane and Demetri together, as they often were, Jane on Demetri's shoulders, arm outstretched, finger pointing forwards, both of them laughing together. Alec and Renata huddling together, holding sheets of music that Alec had painstakingly transcribed.

When Isabella finally put her brush down, the table was covered with painted memories, scattered all around her the way they always were. The memories didn't really disappear from her mind the way that Marcus had warned her they might.

She cast a rueful glance at them before gathering them up in her hands, pigments rubbing off onto her fingers. Isabella carried the scraps of fabric back with her, to her room.

She threw them into the fireplace, watching her memories burn up, and felt herself relax slightly. She then turned and left her rooms to find a place to wash her hands of the remaining stains of her past.

She felt liberated as she strode down the halls.

* * *

Caius was pacing in his room, growling to himself.

It wasn't enough that he was forced to begin training for an army at 65 moons, or that he had to see unending bloodshed for only 48 after joining at 200. It wasn't enough that he was pushed through unending flames to emerge as a cold figure, one that his comrades feared and worshipped. It wasn't enough that he had to subsist on the rotting corpses the army left behind. No, one of his close companions had to be stolen away and almost forced into degradation. He could only thank Mars and Jupiter that she was strong enough to survive her horrendous life.

"They have to pay," he muttered, starting the circle anew. "The wolves. The Lunar Children. Yes, they have been allowed to stay for far too long. They must be quelled."

It wasn't enough that one of the wolves had come so close to violating him when he was 218 moons. The lycanthrope had been Caius's faithful friend, one of the best soldiers, but one day he decided that he owned Caius in more ways than one and almost overcame the now-king. That a queen he served alongside had to suffer from that same impending horror sickened and angered him.

No.

'Anger' was not strong enough for the sheer loathing, the passionate hatred that flooded out of Caius as he thought about the werewolves. They were a species created from a dying illness, a parasite, one that forced its prey to be driven under a spell every 28 sunsets.

Caius immediately threw his doors open (one split from the force with a loud _CRACK!_) and strode down the hall to find his brothers. Aro and Marcus had convened in another one of the 'game rooms' that Chelsea had shown the guards so long ago. This one was more for business than anything; strategy books lined shelf after shelf, and maps filled the walls.

Aro was obviously incensed from what his sister had said, but he was nowhere near as furious as Marcus. After centuries of the king's indifference, the revulsion that emanated from him attacked Caius's already vengeful psyche, elevating his anger.

Marcus whipped around when Caius entered. His once haggard visage had smoothed out and he appeared younger now, but the amount of distortion his face had gone through changed that immediately now. His expression resembled that of a tiger whose tail had gotten tugged by an unwelcome being. His eyes were black except for a delicate rim of crimson that burned with inner flame. Caius needed no looking glass to verify that his looked the same.

"We can't let these vermin touch another one of us," Aro snarled. He seemed the most levelheaded of the kings. "We will confine them to Siberian lands, and they will soon perish.

"Nay, Aro," Marcus rumbled in response, trembling. "I plan on tearing every last one of them into pieces for what my Didyme had to go through. Those wolves will never see another full moon once I have found them!"

"He is right, Aro," Caius quipped. "If we allow the werewolves" (he spit out this word as though it were human food on his tongue) "to procreate and persist, then they will attack another of us. I refuse to let that happen. They must all perish!" He shouted out the last word, emphasizing his wishes. Marcus growled in agreement.

"Aro, if you do not support our venture, we will let ourselves go," Marcus threatened. "I will take along my apprentice. She will serve me on this journey."

"And I will bring mine, Aro," Caius added in.

Aro gave a small dark smile. "Did you two honestly think that I would allow the ones who kept my sister away from me to stay alive? Jane and I will come as well. I do not know if we should bring Renata, though Demetri and Felix will have to come."

"We will set Chelsea and Afton to lead our castle, as they have done before," Marcus mused. "And we will return as soon as the wolves have been dealt with."

Caius gave a brisk nod. "Then it is settled," he said, sweeping out of the room again.

Aro exchanged a bewildered look with Marcus. "How does he do that?"

Marcus shook his head slightly. "We will never know what goes on in our dear brother's head, Aro. Let's just accept that and move on."

* * *

**Yes, short chapter. Sorry about that. The next one will have much more action, so be patient please!  
**

**~Shriayle**


	27. Hunt: The First of Many

**Yay for being a quick writer!**

**Welcome to the Hunt section of the story! Yes, there will be more chapters related to this stuff.**

**Reminder that this fanfic is probably a very loose 'T' rating as I don't think it warrents an 'M' rating, but it might get graphic. If you think I should change that, let me know 'kay. There will never be a single lemon in any of my stories, but I don't know how gross you guys want me to get. As it is, I found myself deleting sentences that were a bit too much. **

**Remember to let me know if you're confused/want more development by reviewing.**

**Replies~**

**Arabella Whitlock: I needed some reason for Caius, let's be honest here. I try to make Isabella's character grow more every chapter, or at least take away some of her mystique.**

**Guest: Wish granted~~**

**South3rnbele: Thanks!**

**I am in Loki's Army: If you really want to know, I could spoil it for you. Just who he is, not how it happens ;) but this is only for you okay because you've reviewed this story a lot and I want to give something back to you hmm?**

**isa (Guest): Did the name come before the story? xD But here's some more for you!**

* * *

Isabella quietly draped her cloak over her shoulders. She glanced ruefully at it.

To be fair, it was a beautiful cloak. It was lined with a red silk, the crimson color of the eyes they all shared. The outer cloak, the one that denoted rank, was as dark as Jane and Alec's. It was a shade darker than Demetri's, and it was much darker that Felix's. In fact, the only darker cloaks were the Masters' and the Queens'.

Isabella did not like her cloak at all. She found it to be a symbol of hatred amongst the rest of their kind now. Only Amun and Liam seemed to teach their clans about the peace that the Volturi had created out of chaos; the rest only fled when they heard of the Italians' approach. Isabella remembered that many of the myths of dark creatures with gleaming red eyes arose from the Volturi guards that patrolled whenever they could. She only wished they had never been created.

But now, this mission was one she was willing to fight for. One of her companions had been brutally attacked and forced away from the love of her life (or was it existence?) by the deplorable creatures she would soon kill.

She stared at the mirror, staring at herself, thinking.

Never before had she hungered for blood.

Oh, she had no intention of consuming a single dirty drop. Why would she, when there were humans to satisfy her? But the idea of killing the packs, painting the forests with blood, filled her with a cold glee that refused to fade.

She scared herself with this desire. Why did her mouth well up with venom and her eyes blaze with a dead flame whenever she thought of destroying the werewolves? She hadn't wanted to decimate something so powerfully before.

Perhaps it was the idea of Didyme and Marcus being tainted. Perhaps it was the idea of werewolves existing, men driven by their animalistic desire to hunt, fuck, and kill.

Isabella watched herself draw up in an unconscious tension, watched herself slowly crouch down in a protective attacking position.

Seeing herself in that position, even she couldn't question why Aro had sent her to lead the mission.

She forced herself to straighten, closing her eyes. When they opened again, she had relaxed into a stiff position. Somehow.

Isabella pinned the Volturi pendant to her throat, holding her cloak together. She slowly lowered her hands, nodded to her reflection, and walked out of the room, putting the fire out.

Jane met her in the hallway, Demetri right behind her. Jane's concerned look broke as a wide smile slowly grew on her face.

"Isa!" she sang out, leaping into her sister's arms. Isabella was slightly surprised by the display of affection, but she soon realized the reason behind what Jane had done.

It was hard to ignore her sister's trembling when they were pressed so closely together, after all.

Isabella locked eyes with Demetri. They exchanged a look of cold anger.

Whatever it was that scared her siblings would not live the second Isabella laid eyes on them.

She felt Jane pull away and rearranged her face to a happy smile. Jane just responded in like.

"Let's go," Alec said, appearing in the hallway. "The sooner we come back, the better," he muttered at the end.

"Aww, already missing Renata, are you?" Jane teased, grabbing his hand and pulling him along. They were down the hall in a matter of seconds.

"Not missing Demetri, are you?" Isabella and the aforementioned vampire smirked at each other at Alec's quip.

"Sister, brother, let's go," Isabella called out. The two turned from their bickering.

They nodded in sync, glanced at each other, and returned to Isabella's side.

"Felix isn't coming?" Jane asked, the question directed to Demetri. He shook his head slightly.

"Not with us. The masters want him to go with them. Four and four, they said."

Jane nodded in understanding.

"We're burning moonlight. We should go," Alec said, his quiet voice back.

The foursome made their way out the marble castle before darting off into the darkness. Once they were a fair way away from the castle (read: they were in France), Isabella glanced over to Demetri.

"Do you have a scent?" she asked. He rolled his eyes at the dog reference before concentrating.

His head whipped up and his eyes got a glazed, unseeing look. Demetri sprinted east, more north from where they came.

"After him," Isabella instructed, and the siblings dashed in pursuit of the tracker.

As the sun began to rise, Demetri froze in the cover of the trees. His companions had long since caught up to him and were waiting for his sense to turn itself back on.

"They're in Prussia," Demetri growled at them. Isabella's eyes narrowed.

"That'll take at least another night to get there, much less track them down," Alec said, forming words to everyone's thoughts.

"We hunt, we wait, and we leave at sundown. Twilight may seem too early, but as long as we stay away from civilizations it should be okay," Isabella instructed. "Go find someone. Preferably someone that no one will miss."

The three others nodded and raced off to find their prey. Isabella quickly carved the symbol of the Volturi into a few trees so they could have a meeting place before searching for her own prey as well.

She sat herself on a brick wall and waited. She drew her cloak to herself and watched as potential targets walked by. After hours of waiting in the daylight, she finally noticed a homeless man trudging along slowly, a bottle of gin clutched to his chest.

Isabella gave a slight grin and stood up, making sure to cast as much allure about her as she could be drawing her shield to herself. The man stood stock still before slowly beginning to stumble after her. The moth drawn to a flame, he walked on, following the mysterious figure draped in black.

Until it seems to just disappear. Poof! into thin air.

The man stopped walking before thinking he was just drunk and it was a hallucination or something. He grunted before turning back around and seeing the figure behind him, a few meters back. The man blinked, trying to clear his hazy vision.

Isabella wrinkled her nose. _In hindsight, having all of that alcohol pumping through veins wasn't a smart choice, was it?_ she thought to herself humorously as she instinctively pounced on her unsuspecting prey and began to drain him dry. The alcohol never had an effect on vampires, even though the blood did taste slightly bitterer to her. She grimaced, threw it aside, and lit it on fire before returning to the streets to seek her next victim.

After drinking a prostitute she had seen walking around, Isabella found herself back in the clearing, waiting for the rest of her team to appear. She didn't expect them for hours, as the sun had barely begun to approach the horizon line. She stood and watched the orb of light slowly descend and watched its rays die away. Right before the sun vanished from sight, her siblings and Demetri returned.

With a quick nod, Isabella instructed Demetri to track again and they were off towards Prussian lands. As they ran, Isabella felt Demetri begin to slow down and hone in on their victims. Isabella's lips curled back in a sneer; their prey didn't deserve to even be thought of as victims.

Demetri's eyes focused again. "This is their domain," he whispered.

The four vampires froze. They didn't know what to expect, or who would come from the depths of the wood.

Isabella glanced up quickly. It was still only quarter moon; the werewolves would be unable to fully transform into their animal forms.

Alec gave a soft snarl. When Jane went to hit him for making the noise, he cut her off and said, "Can't you hear that? Or smell that?"

Jane extended her hearing. If she had blood, it would have run cold. A deep, earthy smell mixed with the putrid scent of rotting flesh emanated from within the forest's depths. The whispers of muffled movement and deep-throated chuckles hissed from the same place.

Demetri felt his mate stiffen next to him and placed his hand on her shoulder as comfort. She hummed in gratitude at the action.

Isabella had extended layers of shielding to cover her allies and separate them from the threat before venturing to speak. "Who's there?" she called out. The far-off snuffling ceased, and the four vampires clearly heard running feet.

Running _away_ from them.

"Cowards," Demetri snarled.

"Get them," Isabella commanded. The twins shot out, preparing their powers, shortly followed by Demetri and Isabella.

Jane and Alec glanced at each other before coming to a silent agreement. They diverged from their original path, Jane looping left, Alec running right. They finally caught up to the group of creatures that fled from their presence.

They were met with a sorry sight. It was a group of about eight men, scrawny and dirty, without a single piece of cloth to cover themselves with. The stench that came from them wasn't the tantalizing scent that the vampires had come to know as _human_. Instead, it was derived from the earth and smelled disgusting. Like an animal thrown into the water. They slouched down so far that their backs had been bent and their hips sat closer to the ground. They were completely feral in appearance; hair grew from everywhere, and it had never been trimmed, so swaths of it hung about. Their brown eyes were bloodshot and rheumy. They appeared to be adults; older than Demetri, but not old enough for their bodies to fall into disrepair.

They communicated in broken English and growls. The effect was odd, to say the least.

"Where's _RrrgRGgh_?" one barked out. He seemed slightly larger than the rest, although that wasn't really saying much. His eyes blazed with blind, bucolic emotion, as though he had no idea what he was so angry about. The other seven whimpered and huddled to the ground, looking everywhere but his eyes.

"_Rghrrrt!_" he snarled, glaring at all of them. "_Rllyrrh, grrrrghr _idiots, the _rrgher_ of ya!" He set his burning eyes to each of them in turn. They shrank back the second he made eye contact. "Tell me where he is! _Grrhgytll!_"

"He ran south, _rlyrrhg,_ to pursue that stone woman of his," one growled back. Jane felt herself begin to tense up. The one vermin, the one that had desecrated her queen, wasn't even in this pack. At least he was a part of it; torturing the living hell out of them, she could cope with.

"That fool," the first human-lycanthrope rumbled, shaking his head. "He should have gone when we could _rhyllgrrrrgrh_, not before." He let out a throaty chuckle, one menacing and devoid of humor. "There is no reason why he would need the woman of granite when he has plenty of whores in the neighboring town, hmm?"

The werewolves all let out barking laughs. _They sound as though they are coughing up blood,_ Jane noted. To her horror, she noticed that some of them were. The substance that made them werewolves forced them to hemorrhage from the inside-out.

She saw a hint of Alec's mist begin to settle in around the clearing. Apparently, her brother had enough of these wolves and their disgusting behavior.

One of them wasn't fooled into thinking it was natural mist. "_Rlyrrhg!_" he grunted in alarm. "Something gathers, _rlyrrhg_, something _rrrrhlrrr_."

The large werewolf froze as he walked. He lifted a hand and swept his long, greasy hair away from his face. His long, uncut fingernails left scores of scratches in their wake, and he merely irritably brushed the blood away.

He sniffed. "You're right, _rggrrylr_," he said uncertainly. "This fog, it is _rrrrhlrrr_."

The rest of the pack was on alert now, whimpering and pawing at the ground. They gained more of a wolf mentality now, and some even reverted into canine behavior. The more disgusting kind that Jane didn't really want to see.

After seeing one too many wolves lift up a leg to piss on a tree, Jane had enough and sent her pain flying at all of them at once. The pack began to snarl and howl in pain, squirming around on the ground, rolling on their backs and splaying out.

_Okay, I didn't want to see that, thanks,_ Jane thought to herself before adding, _Alec's rubbing off on me_. Speaking of her brother, Jane noticed the mist slowly begin to evaporate, and she let her pain increase. Soon she had a pitiful bunch of men rolling around on the ground, screeching in an odd, pathetic, sort of animalistic way.

Isabella and Demetri took this moment to calmly walk into the clearing. Jane and Alec quietly mirrored them from the opposite end.

"Enough, Jane," Isabella called out coldly. Jane obliged, not out of disappointment (which was a small factor, still) but out of duty. She wasn't offended by Isabella's terse way of speaking; this was merely her 'business' and 'you're-not-a-family-member-get-the-hell-out-of-my-face" voice.

The leader werewolf (for they all assumed the large one was the leader) growled in return, whimpering as Jane sent another spear of pain at him. "I am Ertmon, _rlyrrhg_ of _grrylrh_," he snarled in between whimpers. "Why are you here, and why did you attack us?"

"We are guards for our queen Didyme, who returned with a rather frightful story of nude men who turned into wolf-men," Isabella responded casually, as though this Ertmon was merely asking her about the weather. Ertmon's eyes widened at the name before narrowing again.

"That _ghrrygr_," he muttered under his breath, his beard and mustache muffling his speech.

"I'm sorry?" Demetri asked pleasantly from next to Isabella.

The wolf glanced up quickly. "It was not us as a _grrylrh_, that decision. A member of the _grrylrh_, Prenskas, the _ghrrygr_ of the pack, he was the one to claim the woman of stone who called herself a twin. When she fled we let her go and didn't pursue her, but the _ghrrygr_ decided to follow. Please, we meant no harm."

"A likely tale," Jane said from the back. Ertmon whipped his head around, growling under his breath.

"You do not believe my _rrygrrh_?" he asked, a menacing tone to his voice.

She looked him straight in the eyes. "According to our queen, the wolves banded together to force her away after attacking our king. That is an offense to us."

Ertmon snarled out loud, only for Jane to double her mental onslaught on him. He began to twist, trying to transform as much as he could.

"No!" Isabella shrieked, leaping forward and sinking her teeth into his neck. She found the central vein and injected her venom into his bloodstream.

The venom of the vampires and the poison of the werewolves was too much for one body to bear. Ertmon wrenched Isabella off in a show of surprising strength. He clenched at his throat, whimpering audibly, and clawed at his throat in an attempt to clear himself of the warring substances.

The other seven werewolves yelped and threw themselves away from their leader, pain coursing through their bodies thanks to Jane, watching as he began to shrivel away and his body began to smoke.

Isabella nonchalantly smeared the blood off of her mouth. She examined her finger after doing so, watching as the blood coagulated as the venom and the poison battled, watching as it finally grew warmer and hissed into a gas on her finger. She glanced up.

The wolves were sobbing openly now, calling out only their odd growling words. "_Rlyrrhg! Rlyrrhg! Rlyrrhg!_" they moaned, shoving themselves towards his mangled corpse, yet shrinking away as they smelled the foreign venom in his system. They circled around him.

Isabella glanced up and made eye contact with Alec. He nodded and cast his numbing over them.

Soon they had seven comatose wolf-men on the ground, huddled together. Isabella curled her lip at the sight and closed her eyes. "Get them," she instructed the other three.

They pounced on the pathetic forms, biting them efficiently and quickly. The four vampires watched them writhe silently, eyes still half-closed due to Alec's gift. The seven grew still.

As they began kicking the prone forms into the center of the meadow, Jane began to growl to herself. Isabella was in the middle of tearing dead grass away from them, making a perfect ring of dirt on the ground surrounding the pile.

"What's wrong, Jane?" Isabella asked quietly.

Jane looked at her. "I wanted to hate them. They did that to Didyme. They tore her apart. But the real criminal wasn't here. They were guilty of being his friends." She buried her head in her hands, standing still. "I know that they shouldn't have allowed it," she continued in a whisper, "but why does it feel so _wrong_?"

Isabella wordlessly opened her arms. Jane walked into them, and the two sisters stood, embracing each other.

Demetri gazed over before taking a piece of flint, removing his Volturi insignia, and lighting the bodies on fire.

The four vampires watched the bodies burn for a bit before turning and walking away from the rampant death, leaving only smoke the color of coal in their midsts.

* * *

It was almost daybreak when the vampires had left the dead pack behind.

"We should wait here for the pack member to return," Alec suggested.

Jane shoved her hands beneath her arms and nodded. Demetri approached her and threw his arms across her shoulders in his usual flyaway manner, but she just shook him off.

"Not now, Demi," she mumbled before walking off a ways.

Demetri looked back at Isabella and Alec, confused and hurt. "She's never done that before," he said, sounding more lost than anything else.

Alec sighed before speeding up to catch up to his twin. Isabella just shook her head. "It'll be fine, Demetri," she said to comfort the physically-older vampire. He nodded, his eyes still confused.

"Did I miss something related to Jane?" he mused out loud.

"Probably, but I don't want to be the one to explain to you what's going on," Isabella replied, a cryptic smile dancing about her lips. She ran to catch up to her siblings.

* * *

"Jane!"

The blonde vampire in question just shook her head and walked a bit faster, but her twin had seen this coming and grabbed her arm. She threw him off.

"What do you want, Alec?" she snarled. He blinked; now he was caught off-guard.

"What's up with you, hmm?" he asked after recovering. She just rolled her eyes and walked on.

"Do you understand how much you just hurt your mate?" Jane froze at his words. When she turned around, he could see just how she felt about that. Hurt. Shattered, even.

"What? How?" She was barely able to speak.

"He's not sure of what to make of you right now, Janey," Alec said. "You just blew him off. Randomly, to him. I mean, Isa and I've known you for our entire lives. We know how you act. He hasn't had that extra few centuries advantage."

Jane didn't hear a single word her brother said. All that ran through her mind was _Demi. Hurt. I don't understand._

"Oh, scitte," Jane swore before flashing back to where her older sister and mate surely were.

Alec rolled his eyes before calling out, "You better not let Isa hear that!" He shook his head before returning.

* * *

**The werewolves made me feel sick, and I'm the author. **

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	28. Hunt: Vengeance

**Look who's back, back again.**

**If you can't guess, updating will be extremely sporadic. Sorry 'bout that, but there's some more serious writing I need to do instead.**

**I tried my hardest to wring out every possible detail for this chapter. I hope it lives up to your expectations, you violent readers you.**

**This WILL get really graphic at the end. It's a rather brief graphic scene, but it's still there.**

**Also I've come up with a playlist for this story. There are currently five songs on it. Please suggest some songs! They can focus on only one character (I've got one for the Volturi triumvirate, an instrumental piece, one for Isabella, one for Jane, and one for the scene with the Romanians, so none of those please). They can focus on ANY PART of the story, like songs for the shippings and maybe your favorite scene. If I like the song you suggested and it ends up on the playlist, you will get to put in an OC. These will show up much, much later, but they will be there. So please help me haha.**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: You are really good at catching my points. Internet cookie for you.**

**Slytherin of the Sea: MORE DISGUSTINGNESS TO COME hehehehe, and thanks :)**

**Guest (1): KILL. DEATH. RAWWRRR. Also, Heidi and Felix are an established thing, sorry.**

**I am in Loki's Army: oops I already replied to this :3**

**Guest (2): Well, it's later now xD (Sorry, not sure about the French translation of my statement)**

**MoonPrincess623: You're much more violent than your username would suggest o_O Well, Jasper and Alice will show up, but I'm going to wait until you see what I do with the two of them ;) One spoiler: Jasper and Isabella will get along. Maybe too well.**

**john86710: Edward will most definitely NOT be Isabella's mate. I really don't like prissy-boy. Also, I called Alec a preteen because that's what he resembles (He was just starting puberty when he was burned. Late-bloomer lol)**

**I love twilight bella Whitlock: Thanks for your comments :D**

* * *

Aro grimaced. He wasn't sure what to do at this point.

It had been a couple of days since he sent out his first wave of guards. They were yet to respond, but their prolonged absence invoked a surprising hope in Aro. He wished that they would succeed from the bottom of his heart. If he had one. He chuckled darkly at his attempt at humor.

Caius and Marcus weren't any better. Caius had taken to striding around in a circle, trying to clear his mind of the atrocities that scarred it. The more he tried, the more they came, until he finally relented and let his past wash over him. Battle after battle, blood, his friends, that blasted _wolf_, the pain that Marcus was feeling, the hatred washing over all occupants of the room ruling his thoughts, the disgust, the things he wanted to do to every lycanthrope that existed, the way he wanted to castrate the lot...

And so he paced on.

Marcus was frozen in his throne, though he was as deep in thought as Caius was. His thoughts centered around Didyme and getting revenge for her, on her threatened innocence and his powerful protective instincts. To calm himself, he read the bonds between all of the members of the guard, and even traced over some of Chelsea's manufactured bonds (see Corin and Salvador). Surprisingly, some of the bonds were requiring Chelsea less and less. Only occasionally did the two consider leaving now, and Corin regarded Chelsea and Heidi as her friends and would refuse to leave. It was the first time since Brandenburg's coven fell that she felt a familial connection to someone not of her blood. Salvador could only just stay with her. Mates do that to you.

Speaking of which...

Didyme flew into the room, her bare feet silent as they darted across the marble floor. She flung herself at Marcus at the same time he got up and held his arms out for her.

Aro immediately stalked over to her. "Dyme, why aren't you wearing shoes?" he asked, even though he knew perfectly well that no vampire in the world needed the articles of clothing.

Didyme stuck her tongue out at him (a plebian human habit she picked up in isolation) and sniffed. "There's no reason for me to, is there?" she asked cheekily. She held out a foot and wiggled her toes, giving him a daring look all the while.

Aro sighed. There wasn't any stopping his sister. Period.

Marcus repositioned himself so that he could somehow hold her in one arm off of the ground. She just curled herself up further and let him do so. Aro smirked at them; Caius sighed in exasperation.

"Is there something you needed, Didyme?" he called out from his pacing. The white-haired vampire was not amused by the queen's mischievous actions. As endearing as they were, he didn't approve. At all. Especially now, at this crucial time.

Didyme's eyes clouded slightly and she poked Marcus's arm. "Let me down." When she stood on the ground, secure, she let out a breath.

"I want to hunt the mongrel down with you."

Her words had an immediate effect. Everyone in the room froze except for Caius, who merely raised an eyebrow and walked over to the now nervous queen.

"Sorry?" the king said lightly, unsure of what he just heard.

"I-I want to kill him. I want to make him pay. You have to understand, Kai."

Caius's eye twitched. "Don't call me that."

"Are you sure? You seem to like it when Athena does," Didyme teased, looking at him suggestively.

Caius snorted. He was at least faintly impressed that she seemed to catch every single detail about anyone; the woman was a trivia master. Didyme was surprised that he would even consider snorting in another being's presence; he was so arrogantly regal all of the time.

"How do you propose that you will help us catch this beast?" Caius asked, switching to his diplomatic voice. Marcus glared at him.

"Well, he knows my scent. At worst, I can provide you with a 'running lure' for the wolf, draw him closer to you until it's too late. Or maybe just attract him to a certain place with a trap for him," Didyme said thoughtfully. Marcus's dirty look intensified.

Caius nodded slowly. "It makes sense, I guess," he muttered to himself. He raised his voice so she could hear him. "It makes sense," he repeated. "If we chase him down, he'll know. But he might be blind to that if you're the one that draws him in, rather than us going to him. Hmm."

"You can't be saying that you _accept_ this, Caius?!" Marcus finally choked out, gripping his mate's arm. "I won't let you," he said to her fiercely.

Didyme steadily met his gaze. "I have to do this, Marcus," she said softly. "I have to make sure that he won't harm one of us again." Marcus didn't have any way to respond to her whispers.

"Besides, if you say no, she'll just follow us anyhow," Caius drawled. "Didn't you hear? She wants closure, brother. Give it to her, hmm?"

Marcus switched tongues to Latin, muttering a few choice phrases that involved many physical impossibilities as well as suggestions for where Caius could use some closure. As threatening as some might have found it, Caius couldn't help but laugh upon hearing it. He cursed himself for losing poise only a second later before realizing that all of the guards wouldn't be able to hear them anyways. He and his brothers had always been less strung-up around the guards they trusted and each other. Anything that involved Marcus acting so Jupiter-be-damned _alive_ was just odd for Caius, especially. Aro had been stuck in his own world due to his sister's demise and hadn't really noticed Marcus dying slowly besides them.

"Marcus, as much as Athena'd probably like to see me try, it's rather difficult to maneuver one's _verpa_ in the way that you're suggesting. Also, as welcoming as it is to hear you say words to yourself and not to someone who's not there, let's get back on topic."

Aro had by this time recovered from Didyme's initial demand and was patiently waiting for Marcus to calm down. "Sister, are you sure?" he asked quietly, as if to verify.

She nodded firmly.

Aro looked at Caius helplessly. The white-haired vampire king shrugged. "I personally approve, Aro," he said, stretching his arm out unnecessarily. Aro growled at him under his breath.

"I'm not saying 'no' Aro. That's always been your job."

Ignoring the jibe, Aro ran a hand through his hair, closed his eyes, and sighed. "Are you sure this will help, Didyme?" he finally asked, cursing himself on the inside time and again.

Didyme swallowed slightly but still nodded, a steely determination glimmering in her eyes.

"Don't say it," Marcus growled quietly, but Aro only gave him a sympathetic look.

"Fine."

Marcus just closed his eyes and clung to Didyme harder. She stroked his arm with a melancholy look. "When?" she asked hoarsely.

Caius cleared his throat. "Right now. Isabella's last letter was dated a few days ago, and she says that they successfully wiped out the wolf's pack. The full moon is in a week; we need to track him down before he infects others."

The two other brothers nodded. Marcus offered Didyme his arm, and they swept out of the room.

Felix blinked in shock when the kings told him that his recently restored queen was to be a part of the mission. "Sir..?" Felix asked before checking himself, nodding, and saying, "Of course. Let's be off."

Caius picked up a silver metal tube that Aro recognized as his lighter of sorts. It was a modified gun, which created a spark that was directed downwards by oil or, more commonly, venom. Aro didn't like the thing, but Caius seemed to. Marcus just rolled his eyes.

"Must you always bring that contraption wherever we go?" Marcus asked. Caius shrugged, a smirk slowly spreading across his face. "It keeps the annoyances down," he responded, twirling the altered weapon around a finger.

Felix had nothing to add that the masters didn't already know, so he made sure to trail behind and give Heidi a gentle pat on the head as he left. She gave him a wicked grin and responded by smacking his behind. Caius rolled his eyes, muttering, "Miscreants," as he passed.

The four male vampires and one female vampire finally made it into the wild, where they stood completely still. Didyme took a deep breath as if to calm herself before slowly walking towards the clearing that she remembered last. It took days of walking at the human pace she chose, but the kings and Felix did not rush her. They merely followed her silently, allowing her to walk on. They watched the nights turn to days, the days fall to nights, and never did they stop walking. Finally, she halted and stood stock still.

The four others lingered in the shadows before Didyme quickly gestured them into the trees. The moment they found themselves hanging from the boughs, a man had stalked out of the other side.

He was filthy. It was the first thing they thought. Dirt clung to him like a second skin, to the point where his nudity didn't even matter. His hair grew in matted clumps all over his body. He was hunched over himself, bloodshot brown eyes glittering from behind a thick black fringe. He stunk of urine, earth, and rotting leaves.

Yet none of these details disgusted or enraged Marcus any more than the obvious lust that shone from those baleful, tiny eyes, or the way the man seemed to be salivating, as if he were a starving dog and Didyme were a piece of fresh meat offered by the neighborhood butcher.

"My darling," the wolf crooned, panting in anticipation. He subconsciously licked his lips and stepped closer to her, one hand raised as though he dared not touch her, as though he knew he would spoil her, that his filth would interrupt her radiance. "My love."

Didyme's eyes narrowed slightly and she took a step back into a ray of sunlight. The light danced across her face and skin, illuminating it and refracting the light everywhere: on the trees, on the ground, into the lycanthrope's eyes. He cared not; if anything, his eyes widened and he drew even closer to her. He began to hyperventilate, as though he thought she were but a mirage that would fade away and leave him forever.

"Come, why do you flee from your love," he said, breathing even faster. Marcus thought that if the creature got any more excited, he would surely piss himself. "My sweet, sweet gem."

"You are not my love, _dog_," Didyme spat back. She glanced to her left, catching Marcus's eye. The male vampire had on a faint smile creased with worry. Oblivious to the exchange, the wolf gave a huff of laughter before withdrawing his hand and crawling forward again, this time to eagerly grab the vampire's cloak and maybe to kiss its edge. The others would never know, for their queen stepped out of the way and plucked her cloak out of his reach daintily, leaving him grasping at the air

"Why do you deny it?" the wolf asked, a whine creeping into his already rasping voice. He drew himself into a tiny form and crouched, balanced on the balls of his feet, arms wrapped around his legs. "If you want me to be more human, I'd gladly do so. If you want to imbibe me, I give you my blood. If you want to bite me, though, you'll have to really want it," he cooed with a snarky smile, as though his humor would draw her in. "I know from experience how _passionate_ women can be."

"Don't speak to me like that, vermin," Didyme snarled, her eyes becoming black with rage as she took another step back. Caius caught the wave of lustful anger from the wolf and frantically tried to catch Marcus's eye to warn him. If Didyme continued any further, she would surely attack and maybe be overpowered in this creature's ardor-filled enthusiasm, something that none of the vampires wanted at all.

Aro tensed up as he watched his little sister bait the wolf closer to the males lying in wait. With every step backwards she took, the wolf eagerly scampered after her and shortened the space again.

The king gestured to Felix to go behind the wolf.

"Don't you remember me, love?" the wolf whimpered in self-pity. He didn't understand how the one woman that made him happier above all else couldn't feel the same way. "It's me, _Rgghrrh_! Please, try to remember." He whined more loudly as tears began to make their way down his face. "I abandoned my pack to follow you! The alpha, he was upset, but I stayed true. I haven't touched another female! I've waited only for you!"

Didyme cringed away from the disgusting, groveling man before glancing up and realizing that the plan was in place. She briskly turned around and walked out of the meadow.

"Wait, my love!" The Child of the Moon got up to follow his love (there was no way he would leave her behind _again!_) before realizing he couldn't. Numbly, he looked down to realize that something, some_one_, freezing cold to the touch, had grabbed his upper right arm.

The werewolf shrieked in fear, writhing and twisting, trying to escape Felix's frigid grip. The wolf could feel his ligaments tear, his muscles scream in pain as they were ripped apart, but it didn't matter, it _didn't matter_, as long as he was free of these captors he would give up both his arms. When the arm nearly tore itself off, Felix immediately let go and grabbed hold of his other one. Pain never abating, the wolf went to tear his left arm apart, even bringing his elongated fangs to the top part to tear off the rest.

Aro walked out slowly, lip curling. The wolf stopped mutilating himself and stared at the newcomer, eyes wide, heart beating, pupils dilated, arm bleeding profusely. The blood held no desire to any vampires; it smelled of wet earth and an alkaline mixture, one that would burn from the inside out.

"Please, please no, please, I'll do anything, I'll give up anything, anything but _her_, let me be with her, please," the wolf babbled on, eyes darting from Didyme, who had turned around in the safety of the trees' shadows, to Aro. Didyme, Aro, Didyme Aro, Didyme, Aro, Didyme, Aro, brother, sister, man, woman, vampire, vampire, crimson eyes, crimson-that-began-to-bleed-into-black eyes.

Aro let out a breathy laugh, almost a maniacal giggle. His eyes darkened completely, resembling tiny portions of moonless, thankless nights. "Why would I let my sister be with filth like you?" he asked pleasantly, as if asking _'tea or coffee, my friend?'_ The werewolf whimpered again. His bladder released, the way Marcus had anticipated earlier but _not_ for the same reason at all, and a stripe of whitish-peach skin suddenly shone out on his inner thighs amongst the dirt that coated his lower half. Felix wrinkled his nose slightly at the pungent odor that pierced the air.

Aro gestured for someone to emerge. It was Marcus, Didyme, and Caius who did. The first two were intertwined, united, indivisible. The werewolf stared longingly at Didyme, and his eyes seemed shattered, destroyed, as though he had nothing left in the world to work for. Marcus wondered briefly if he had looked like that when Didyme had been taken from him. He wondered if the werewolf finally felt what Marcus had suffered through for so many millennia.

_Good_, Marcus thought to himself.

"My friend," Aro's icy, murderous tone was all that gave away his unadulterated disgust and hatred, implying that the werewolf was anything but, "I'm afraid you've shamed my sister. And for that you must die by our hands."

Felix set about tearing the wolf to shreds, making sure he felt every second of pain from removing the nails from his hands and feet to ripping the skin everywhere. After a time, the other four vampires joined in. Aro tore his eyes out of his head for leering at his sister, the optic nerves catching on his nails and shredding in his haste. Marcus tore his fingers off of his hands, relishing in the werewolf's final screams of pain. Caius carefully dug his fingers into the wolf's mouth, delicately removing his tongue to a spurt of blood. The king smirked and began to carefully yet nonchalantly remove the wolf's teeth one by one, flinging the sharp bits of ivory aside. Finally, Didyme approached him, her lip curled back in a feral snarl, and castrated the wolf, going as slowly as possible to extend the torture.

The werewolf was methodically torn apart by the vampires' combined efforts, and soon the ground was covered in blood and flesh. The Volturi had taken their cloaks off for this task, but the rest of their garb was now liberally coated in blood. Silently, the vampires tore up the grass and moved branches out of the patch of dirt, making sure that anything and everything flammable was no longer in reach. When they finished and a perfect circle of dirt was all that remained, Caius sprayed a liberal coating of venom everywhere before lighting the entire mess on fire.

The vampire kings watched the pyre grow, the silvery-white smoke dissipating into air. Marcus stared unseeingly, feeling the blood slowly drip off of him as the creature that had threatened his wife burned to ash. Didyme knew that her hair would be caked in the coppery substance as well as liberally coated with mud, but she felt her triumph grow inside. Caius felt all of the vampires in the clearing slowly let go of their anger to watch their common enemy burn. Aro closed his eyes and listened to the crackling of the fire. He felt a hand brush against his; he opened his eyes and turned to see that it was Felix, who was expressing his wish to return home, a mission completed. The king nodded to his guard, who bowed his head in thankful submission and backed away into the shadows.

"Come, brothers, sister, guard, let us return to our home."

The four others nodded in agreement and they made their way back as the moonlight waned. They no longer trudged at the human pace but darted across the land with every modicum of speed they could muster, cloaks billowing out after them.

* * *

**Yay for focusing on only one thing for an entire chapter.  
**

**Please let me know if you want longer chapters! I will definitely try and accommodate :)**

**~Shriayle**


	29. Hunt: Searching

**To anyone who's confused: it's around 1750-1800 at this time. Plot events will now come into being much quicker (as in, maybe every year as opposed to every fifty). **

**Per some people's requests, I have made this chapter only slightly longer by adding in a small event at the end. I hope it doesn't bore you.**

**Also, if you think I should reply with PMs from now on, let me know. Although that would exclude the guests.**

**REPLIES:**

**Maiannaise: Thanks for your suggestion :D I was planning on a slightly longer chapter this update, but I'm still testing waters so.**

**Arabella Whitlock: Always so insightful, gods. Also be patient with Isabella ;P**

**IAILA: Thanks for the song again :) And it's not messed up at all. It's just us reveling in her revengeeeee**

**Slytherin of the Sea: The werewolf was meant to create some ambivalence, so I'm happy that you have mixed feelings for the wretched beast. Also Marcus/Didyme is the best king/queen couple ok**

**Guest: WE MUST CELEBRATE YASSSSS oh look another one**

**Petunia Eloise: Chills are good :D Also this chapter is slightly longer. But there's a tiny cliffhanger. Sorry 'bout that.**

* * *

Isabella, Demetri, Jane, and Alec returned to the castle to find that the last member of the pack had been vanquished, destroyed, ripped to shreds, etc., by the kings and Felix. And Didyme. While Demetri was a bit disappointed at this, Alec and Isabella let out inward sighs of relief at not having to track down a solo Lunar Child, especially one that didn't want to be found. A pack of seven was hard enough to track, even with Demetri's superior tracking skill.

As soon as the four guards came home, Alec slipped away from the group and went off in search of his mate. Nice as it was to travel again, the mating pull was too great to ignore for too long, which was partially the reason why the group decided to return to Volterra. The three brothers understood Alec's slight predicament and graciously allowed Renata to take a couple weeks off for the two mates to try and make up for lost time. Jane and Demetri, having been together for the past few days it took to track the pack down and return, didn't have as strong of an urge. In fact, Jane wanted her flute more than she wanted alone time with her mate, which resulted in a fake-sulking Demetri and a very exasperated Isabella. Alec found Renata dragging him into their shared room. Caius noticed Renata's rather pushy action, which was completely uncharacteristic of her.

Isabella noticed his staring after her. "You seem confused, sir," she remarked. She followed his gaze to see her brother disappearing down the winding hallways with his mate.

Caius shook his head slightly, as if to clear it. "I didn't expect Renata to be so forward. Does she really miss him that much?"

Isabella rolled her eyes at the implication and subtle innuendo. "Again, men," she grumbled distastefully. "She wants him to play his instrument, I bet."

Caius smirked. Isabella blinked, confused for a second, before realizing the double entendre. "I meant his cello and you know it," she mended, a look of defensive, embarrassed anger on her face.

Caius smirked even wider, this time raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"Men," she muttered again before walking away, shaking her head, as Caius chuckled behind her and strode down the halls to find his wife. He knew that she's have missed him, even after only five days, and that he would get a bit of privacy. After cleaning all of the blood off of his suit, of course.

Aro and Marcus were greeted just as warmly by their own mates, and Isabella watched Felix and Heidi, connected in an extended kiss, as they flirted and giggled (in Heidi's case) all the way to their room. She observed with her usual emotionless mask, but she began to feel something new. A twinge. In her chest. Not where her heart would have been, but more in her core, the center of her body. It wasn't painful, but almost more of a reminder. A harbinger of possibilities.

She wasn't sure what had happened or what this odd prick was. Maybe it was a latent jealousy, created by all of the pairs of mates. Everyone except for her was mated, it seemed. Maybe it was a curiosity. What was love? What was lust? Why did one become attracted to only another after being able to access everything in their mind's desires? Would some even give up their liberty to pursue someone that could weigh them down?

Isabella had once relished her freedom, but now, she was being brought down to the earth. There was another half for her somewhere in the world now, after all these years. Maybe not a romantic or sexual partner (by _God_, she had no wish to find either of those), but someone that she could easily rely on, as if by instinct. Through a primal urge. Like the many she spent years working to suppress. Isabella grimaced in distaste. She had no desire to find this other half.

In fact, she hated it, even if she didn't know who or what it was. It held her back, forced her to think about how empty she felt on the inside. She wanted nothing to do with this other being that seemed so irrevocably tied to her.

She had been alone for nearly a millennium. For almost one thousand freaking years. Why did this urge hit her just now? Why did it have to begin ruling her, leaving wisps of thought in her mind and clouding her senses?

Isabella felt a new urge forming. An urge to punch herself in the face and force her body to snap out of this disgusting emotion. Emotion was dangerous. Trust was back-handed. She had trusted the clergy to protect her siblings so long ago. Look what happened. They were thrown into flames by villagers they trusted with no protection whatsoever except for their older sister. The only person that ever cared for her. The clergy was made into a feast for a newborn vampire. The village was torn apart and destroyed in the winds of time, ripped to shreds by war and decayed by the coming of the Black Death.

Isabella thought she was angrily pacing in a circle as the thoughts brewed, but a quick glance up told her that she had in fact been angrily walking through the halls, not looking where she was going at all, into a sectioned off garden. Some plants threatened to die, as the first cold wind had blown through Volterra less than a moon before, but most retained their color and only mildly protested the colder clime by shivering at any small puff of wind. She watched her hand savagely tear a dahlia to pieces before her very eyes, its neat rows of fuchsia petals scattering all around her, ripped and mangled. She tore the stem into numerous pieces and threw them away from her, disgusted. Her burning red eyes fell upon a new victim, a white lily, sitting innocuously in a clump of its withered brethren. She yanked it off, her hand only milliseconds away from ravaging its petals and tearing it into unrecognizable shreds.

Her hand flew towards it, her eyes burning with displaced rage.

She grabbed a petal, prepared to do the deed. She bit her lip, staring intently at the pitiful plant. The snow-colored petals quivered in her vengeful grip. She clung to the petal harder, ready to tear it and ruin its perfection.

She couldn't.

She couldn't will herself to destroy something so pure and beautiful. Its fragile strength resonated with her; her family was just the same, easily destroyed but not so easily decimated. She felt almost tainted for yanking it away from its dead family.

Isabella sighed and threw the lily back into the clump of brown leaves. Her frustration not yet spent, she just picked up a rock and flung it into the nearby pond with as much force as she could muster. It ended up bouncing off of the stone wall on the other side of the pond before falling in.

She watched the water fling itself up into the air and splash back down in a messy yet graceful manner. Like a dance. A feeble dance by an inanimate object, one that lacked the grace and strength for a true dance.

Isabella sat in the garden and watched the sun rise and set, watched her skin glitter in the light and shine reflective dots onto the grass and walls and water, watched birds land near her carefully to sip from the pond. They would cautiously hop over to her, just out of arm's reach, to bob their heads down and quickly swallow droplets of the clear water. If she made a move towards them, which she had no intention of doing, they would scatter and wait for her to stop before venturing towards the tempting water again.

Isabella never felt more at peace.

* * *

Jane had long since abandoned her flute. Her mouth was preoccupied with something else.

She bit a thread off, spitting it out and exclaiming in disgust at the odd, woolen taste. Once she was certain that she had either spat the stupid fiber out or it had dissolved in her venom, she held her handiwork back proudly.

"Demi! Look!" She turned her torso around to talk to her mate, her expression glowing.

Demetri had been lying on the bed, pretending to sleep. When he heard his mate's voice, he rotated his body and hung off of the bed on his back to stare towards her. "What is it?"

Jane glanced over to see her mate's top half dangling off of the bed, his legs crossed nonchalantly though they were only visible from the knee up. She blinked.

"What in the name of Hell are you doing?" she asked, her excitement forgotten in exchange for a resigned confusion. He smirked, staring at the upside-down form of his mate.

"What aren't I doing right now?" he responded cheekily, winking.

"Me." She dead-panned, raising an eyebrow. She turned back to her project as he began to cackle, his form twitching and occasionally jerking up at the effort to stay in the odd position he had chosen. She carefully removed the needle and carelessly threw it onto a dresser. "Anyhow, Demi, take a look at this! I finally did it!" She held up her project again: a cloth with neat stitches that resembled a dragon.

Demetri finally regained some of his composure. "What?" he managed to ask between sniggers.

Jane gave him a disapproving look. "It wasn't that funny," she said with a sigh and an eye roll.

"Yes it is," he responded, swinging his legs out of their crossed position to kick the air. Jane rolled her eyes at his childishness.

"Well, this is more exciting, Demetri. I finally learned how to embroider!"

Demetri froze in shock. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the most stable position, and the momentary freeze resulted in his falling to the ground headfirst with a yelp. This incited a wave of giggles from Jane.

"You didn't know how to embroider for a thousand-plus years?" Demetri asked. He could specifically remember Kebi and..._her_... embroidering a lot. He cursed himself for bringing her up again. She once occupied his thoughts. Now Jane had that position, and she just served as an unwelcome reminder of what once was. Oblivious to her mate's internal turmoil, Jane smiled angelically and shook her head in joy. "And now you do?" Fierce nodding accompanied by a radiant grin.

Demetri just rubbed the part of his head he had landed on. "Okay, then." He didn't have much else to add after fouling his mood.

"You don't seem as excited about this, Demi." Jane pouted slightly.

"I'm a male. Why should I be interested in this? In fact, why are _you_ so interested?"

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Because it's fun."

Demetri shook his head. "Never in centuries of knowing you did I ever think that you would enjoy doing something so simple as embroidering."

"I'm a girl of many surprises, Demi," she said, her smile turning into a coy smirk.

"Figures."

* * *

Alec's cello was just as abandoned as Jane's flute was. He and Renata were intertwined, indivisible and peaceful. Renata was staring at her mate, committing every single detail to her memory, from his ruddy-darkish-brown hair to his piercing red eyes, eyes that stared straight back into hers. The intensity in his gaze made Renata's heart, or whatever it was in that region of her chest, flutter with joy and nervousness.

Alec reached a hand over to stroke her hair gently. "Is something the matter, Ren?" he asked. He knew her too well, she thought ruefully.

"Nothing at all, it's just..." she trailed off. He looked at her expectantly. "When do you have to leave?" she asked in a small voice.

Alec snuggled into her more. "Hopefully, not for a while. The kings said that we would get a couple weeks to relax here before heading out to find more packs."

Renata hummed happily. "We'll just have to make the most of them, then."

* * *

The olive-toned figure was wandering, as he had done for the past century. No one had ever tried to follow him, although some were suspicious. Then again, as a human, he would have been just as suspicious of a man walking around with a long waistcoat and gloves in the middle of a Spanish summer, not to mention his burgundy eyes.

He could only be thankful that he had to feed monthly. Only once a month did his body urge him to seek out a weak human, one whose disappearance would hardly be noted by more than a sigh or groan, and rob it of its living fluids. Sometimes, he let a few live, sensing a potential within them that could only grow if it wasn't, er, dead.

He tired of his life. Living for eternity with no one at his side was exciting once; he had the freedom to do as he wished and all the time in the world to accomplish what he wanted. He even had a more potent memory and learning ability. But now that he learned at least four other languages and honed them to perfection and absorbed the information of at least two dozen libraries, he was rather bored. He didn't feel any more complete than he had in the past, even with the wealth of knowledge now stuffed into his brain.

The man walked down cobbled street after cobbled street. He had long since left his beloved city of Seville in the fear that people who knew him as a child were suspicious of his eternal youth. Now, he travelled around Spain, unwilling to settle in one place yet not wanting to leave the country of his birth.

But that night was different. He was meandering through shadows in the hopes of avoiding the moonlight (he had noticed his sparkling skin but he had been disappointed when he tried to travel in the moon's rays, thinking only the sun created the diamond-like refraction) when he scented something new.

There were three particularly strong ones. One smelled almost nutty, but it was associated with a silky sweet scent. It was accompanied by a more strident, cinnamon and lemon scent and a denser scent that reminded him of a warm tea or maybe milk. They were unlike any scents that the figure had sensed before. There was one more scent mingled with them: a tangerine and sage blend that was as welcoming as it was unusual. Curious, the figure cautiously walked towards the scents.

He walked out of city boundaries to the outskirts, hoping to find those who smelled so odd yet attractive. With a cold realization, he realized there was yet another scent with them. It smelled of evil. Of things so old that they molded on the spot. Of a dog so wretched, its loving owners would shoot it through the eyes without a doubt in their minds. Of death, mold, earth, and decay.

And blood. Disgusting, lip-curling, coppery, glorious blood.

The figure sprinted now. He cared not about his speed, which was near breakneck, but all he cared about was finding the unknown, good smells hopefully before the bad.

He walked into a clearing painted with dark red blood, with a pile of shriveled corpses neither man nor wolf. Four cloaked figures surrounded the pile, covering it with a clear liquid they seemed to spit out of where their mouths would go. Mesmerized, the figure watched as the four others delicately plucked out grass and branches surrounding the pile before he realized one of them was holding a flint and steel.

The figure set a spark free.

The entire pile lit up. The observing figure unconsciously recoiled backwards.

And the figure who observed saw that the figures observed sparkled in the gaudy light that the flickering blaze threw off. He suddenly couldn't feel his insides: these were the others that his maker ha warned him of before vanishing.

He watched the pile reduce to ashes. He heard one of the smaller figures call out, "Suffocate it," in a female's voice and one of the taller figures and the other shorter one began to kick dirt over the few smoldering remains. The other taller figure remained perfectly still, watching its comrades work.

The oddest thing was, the observer couldn't sense them at all. He couldn't even sense a void of potential. They were blank canvases. One of them must have blocked the others with its gift, but which one? Which could it possibly be?

He ground his teeth in frustration and shifted his weight. A branch cracked slightly under his right foot, nowhere near loud enough for even the sharpest-eared wolf to hear, but loud enough for him to hear.

And for the other figures to hear as well.

The remaining taller figure whipped around at the slight noise and stared at the other. He could see that it was a female, one not yet a woman but definitely not a girl. She had mahogany hair with slight tinges of strawberry blonde from the moonlight. Her skin was pale, much paler than his own. And she had the same glowing red irises that he had.

"Who's there? I can scent you, now that the dogs have been taken care of," she growled out, her gaze turning steely when she saw him.

The figure braced himself and slowly extricated himself from the bushes. The female vampire glanced up and down, appraising his dusty, torn clothes that could once have belonged to a gentlemen and his deep red eyes. Her own eyes darkened slightly. She didn't know of any Spanish vampires that resembled this specific figure.

"Name and sire," she barked out to him.

He grimaced slightly, inwardly protesting her cold attitude towards him. "I am Eleazar," he called back, "and I know not exactly who my creator was. He told me he was once called Astaroth before leaving me, but I have reason to doubt that."

One of the smaller figures, the one that had ordered the other two, had obviously been eavesdropping. She turned to face them; her facial features resembled the other female's ever so slightly, but she had pale brown, almost blonde hair and more angular features. She seemed slightly more predatory. "Really? George is at it again?" she asked, annoyed. She scowled slightly at the prospect. Apparently, this 'George' figure wasn't very liked in this group.

The other smaller figure let out a sarcastic laugh, having thrown one last handful of dirt on the pile. "Of _course_, he has," the figure said. It had a male voice, one that had not yet fully deepened into a man's, but was not quite a boy's either. "He has always had a penchant for _not knowing when to stop trying_." He growled out the last bit, audibly gnashing his teeth.

"Now now, you two," the final figure said, standing between the smaller figures. "Not time to argue over dear, stupid Georgie, but more like time to understand what Ellie here wants from us."

"It's Eleazar."

"I heard the first time,_ Ellie_," the other figure emphasized the undesirable name with a mocking tone. "Now, why did you come? And did any human see you?"

The other taller figure held her arm up sideways, effectively cutting off whatever it was that Eleazar planned to say. "Enough." Her voice rang with authority. The second taller figure looked at her momentarily before bowing out gracefully.

"What do you plan to do?" one of the smaller figures asked. Eleazar realized that the figures he was dealing with were clever enough to not offer their own names, instead trying to gain more information about him. He ruefully admired their cunning, knowing that they, and especially that infernal tall female, had completely tricked him into giving up what he knew.

"We do what we always do, sister," the taller figure responded. Eleazar felt himself freeze, his insides turning as cold as his skin. He had no idea what these figures planned to do with him, but he didn't like the prospect of what would happen to him.

"We take him to the kings," she declared, a devious joy glowing from her eyes.

* * *

Miles away, another traveler ended up on the island of Sicily. Her eyes glowed a dull gold and she looked physically exhausted. Her white robes lay sodden around her, and golden jewelry glittered from her ankles, wrists, neck, and ears. Her dark brown curls lay around her head like a pile of dead seaweed.

"O-okay," she panted to herself, shaking off her weariness to crawl onto the sand. "Never will I do that again on a dry throat." She didn't think her kind needed oxygen, but apparently it did. Maybe human's blood suppressed that need. She had gone without for three months, which was probably nowhere near enough for her body to function at all, much less not _nearly drown even though that should be a bloody physical impossibility_.

Her thirst grew every day she swam. After a while, she had even forced herself to grab slimy fish to try and absorb their bodily fluids, but it didn't really help much. The one time she tried drinking again was when she had found some sort of water creature with an extended snout trapped in a fisherman's net. It was so close to death that she couldn't find a way to not justify eating it. So she had.

It was just as gross. More filling yes, but she hadn't even tried hunting afterwards. She just forced herself to silence the thirst before coming on land. And of course, now that she had, it exploded in her throat. But it would need to wait a bit longer, for she wasn't where she expected she would be.

She impatiently grabbed her hair and carefully squeezed as much moisture as she could out of it, watching the water drip onto the sand. Plip, plop, down it dropped, into a eroded hole lined in freshly made mud.

She laid down on the beach, staring at the sky. It was just past twilight, and night was slowly setting in. The stars began their twinkling, hesitantly at first but gradually getting brighter as if they gained confidence in the few previous moments. The traveler looked at her skin and watched its annoying sparkling tone down and fade into a mysterious shimmer beneath the moonlight. It still refracted light, though, to her utter disgust. She waved an arm around, brow furrowed, watching the dots of lights dance around innocuously on the sand and water. After a period of time (she knew not how long), she finally stopped and put her arm down. She sighed and sat up, sand clinging to her skin and cloths. She looked out over the surprisingly peaceful Mediterranean Sea. The sea between lands. The sea that was freaking huge. The sea that was once her barrier to what she searched for. The sea she had just swam through and crossed to find it.

"I can't believe that I actually _did_ that," the girl muttered to herself, gazing out at the water. She ran her hair through her now-not-so-damp hair as she stared in mild shock. All she had done was follow her instincts; why did they have to send her through so much freaking water? Why had they forced her that way, anyhow? And why was she-

"Gods, gods, gods," she began to moan, realizing that she was losing her instinct. The drive towards something. Or, more precisely, some_one_. She had been searching for centuries after she heard that they left. She would not rest until they were found again. She guessed that this last instinct would drive her to them.

She was losing her sense of their presence. But she couldn't. She had to follow it while it was fading, hopeful that it would give her a chance to find who it was she searched for. She had been searching for far too long to stop now, just because her mind decided to screw her over and force her to almost start over.

So even if it meant searching another continent until they were found, she would do it without a single doubt in her mind. She would race through every country in pursuit of them, and when they were reunited she would celebrate. She would graciously accept their new life and hope to find herself included, for she could not leave them after this. Her entire body protested even the thought of leaving them behind after this.

So she steadied herself and threw herself back into the water once more, dark hair flying behind her. She willed her thirst to hold off for only a few hours more, until she could satisfy it and begin her search in earnest.

* * *

**~Shriayle  
**


	30. Hunt: And Another was Gained

**Trying my hardest to write as quickly as possible! In only a few short months, I will have much more time to hopefully wrap up Isabella's story and get started on another's. For this purpose, I have created a new poll! There are detailed descriptions this time rather than the vague sentences from the last one. Please vote ASAP so I can get started researching! On that same vein of thought, I have renamed _Heir of Ravenclaw_ to fit a new plotline I have come up with for that universe. You'll have to see the description to believe it~~ Those stories might have more romance-y things than this one, too, for those who are impatient for that to happen here.**

**As many of you have suggested, I will keep putting my replies here.**

**REPLIES:**

**I am in Loki's Army: More has come! Hope you're happy :)**

**Arabella Whitlock: The thought on mates is interesting and also makes sense. I kind of see it as there are many possible completions of someone's soul: i.e. Jane could possibly have mated with Eleazar (eww) if she never met Demetri. But she met Demi first and their souls would have made a better completion, so they are now mated. Mated bonds are the easiest and also the most capricious in this AU. And possible Carmen? Maybe it is... ;)**

**MoonPrincess623: The year has been given in this chapter to help out confusion and stuff. We're almost at the earliest point from the actual series. Also, Jasper and Isabella may miss each other a bit, but I can't guarantee how the other characters will feel :P  
**

**Guest (1): Ask and ye shall receive...**

**Guest (2) (y'all should start putting names with your reviews, geez): It seems you haven't revised your statement yet, so I hope you stand by it xD The longer length makes it easier to slide more descriptions later, and now I'm starting to quickly read through the chapter for grammar errors as well as places to elaborate on. It makes the extra 1000 words worth it, I guess. And yes, people tell me that I am sassy, although I prefer the word _sardonic_ personally :P**

* * *

Although the Volturi guard had swum out to Spain through the Mediterranean, their added 'companion' made that mode of transportation null and void. As a result, they had to travel on land to return to their castle. They ran in a sort of circle; Isabella led the way, with Jane and Alec trailing behind her to her left and right respectively, and Demetri brought up the rear. Eleazar was trapped in the middle, forced to run in the same direction and at the same speed as his captors. When he tried to escape once, he was brought to the ground by Demetri's quick speed and strength. He had also felt himself burn from the inside out, but he didn't know why or how. He only knew that when he stopped struggling, the sensation went away. So he stopped, and he cooperated.

Outside of the walls of the Vatican, Isabella had stopped abruptly. She turned around to stare at Eleazar directly in his left eye. All of their eyes were darkening, but his seemed darker than the guards'.

"When last did you slake your thirst?" she asked tersely.

"Excuse me?" Eleazar was rather flabbergasted by her wording.

Alec gave him a bored yet annoyed look that looked uncannily like Caius's when he didn't want to listen to someone complain. "When did you last kill a human and drink their fluids," he translated with a monotone voice, changing the question into a statement.

"Er, a couple of weeks before you found me, ma'am, sir," Eleazar replied uncertainly. He wasn't even sure which guard to reply to. Demetri smirked from behind him. Isabella shot him a dark look.

"Well, Aro wouldn't approve of our starving our poor _guest_," Isabella mused. Jane snickered in her place next to Eleazar, making his discomfort increase even more. These talentless yet menacingly enigmatic vampires scared the Spanish-born vampire.

"Demetri," Isabella called out. The aforementioned vampire snapped his head up and looked at Isabella questioningly.

"Find Ellie here something to indulge on. Anything."

Demetri nodded and was soon off, tracking down a sick man. He returned with a walking corpse and thrust it to Eleazar. The olive-toned vampire shrank back in horror.

"Drink it," Jane growled when the foreign vampire unknowingly stepped closer to her. He jumped at her proximity and immediately did as she asked. The man's sweet blood soothed his burning throat, and soon the lifeless carcass was all that was left.

Isabella took out her flint and steel before glancing to Demetri. The latter vampire quickly took the corpse and threw it into the air. Isabella intercepted it with a spark from the devices in her hand, and soon the only remnants of the man was ash that blew away in the wind.

"We move on," Isabella commanded before leaping away, the four others hurrying to follow her. Eleazar was caught off-guard when he realized that he was in the heart of Italy. The forbidden area.

He stepped away from the guards, terrified. "Oh, no. No, no, no. I refuse to step one foot into that castle."

Isabella glanced backwards in distaste. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I won't walk up to the Volturi. Haven't you heard the rumors about them? Can't you see that they're corrupting you with that Chelsea person?"

"Charmion is a wonderful guard, yes, but her gifts are practically unused in this castle," Jane snapped. "If anything, she once had to bind Corin and Santiago when they threatened to leave in the beginning after learning our secrets. Now, they stay because they wish to. The rest of us have joined them because this is our coven."

Eleazar blinked at the passionate defense the small guard had thrown at his face, completely caught off guard. He didn't even notice Isabella's gesturing until he realized that Demetri was right behind him.

"Are you sure that you don't want to step foot into the castle?" Isabella asked lightly.

Eleazar gave Demetri a nervous glance but nodded nonetheless.

"Pity." Isabella gesticulated with two fingers, almost as if she were trying to make Demetri come to her. Instead, he tore off Eleazar's lower legs at the knees and tossed them to her. Eleazar was still in blank shock at the rapid sequences of events as his torso fell to the ground. He barely managed to catch himself before his face met the ground in a demented embrace. When another guard, a much larger, fiercer looking one, emerged from the shadows of the doorway and picked up his legless body, Eleazar didn't respond at all, even as he watched Isabella pass his legs to the one that had torn them off. He just watched with unresponsive eyes.

Isabella nodded approvingly before turning on her heel and holding the door open for the others to file through. She led them into the castle and through the wining hallways, staircases, and rooms. Eleazar looked around with wide eyes. It wasn't dark and gloomy in these halls at all; it was carpeted with a deep brown fabric, with tapestries lining some hallways and artwork covering others. Some had walls so carefully and ornately carved that there was nothing covering its surfaces, allowing mother-of-pearl, ivory, and ebony to shine out from their divots in the wall.

When they had entered a section of the castle that was made almost completely of marble, Eleazar had been slightly amazed at the humanity of these vampires. They showed their interest in the fine arts in the paintings he had seen, and they had passed many rooms filled with literature from centuries past. These impressions were so different from that of the dictators that ruled the vampire world, the ones he had heard so much about in his travels. His head spun slightly at the idea that the Volturi's subjects were spinning stories about their rulers, but could it be said that no one gossiped about their kings? The French citizens spoke many tall tales about their "_Roi soleil_", their Sun King Louis XIV, many of which weren't true, so why did he believe the stories of the kings whose rules he lived under?

The vampires stopped outside of a magnificently decorated door. Isabella quietly opened the door, unlike how she once had in her excitement at her mentor's wife and queen's return. "Sirs, I present to you an unregistered Spaniard," she called out in a clipped tone, signaling to Felix to drop Eleazar's marred body. He did so immediately, not giving Eleazar any warning before the vampire had to catch himself again. Eleazar gritted his teeth and shakily got onto his knees, the tallest he could make himself.

He swallowed back venom as he stared up, balanced precariously on his knees. The three kings sat before him. Three of the guards that had brought him were standing with them; the fourth and the one still holding his legs were still in the back of the room. Eleazar was completely alone.

Aro leaned forward in his throne. Jane tightened her grip on its back as she narrowed her eyes at Eleazar.

Aro donned his 'kingly' voice. The three kings hid their true selves behind these fake voices, and they had apparently had great fun creating their personas. Aro's was a feathery light voice that sounded as though the speaker was borderline insane.

"Ah, my children, what have you brought me now?" he sang out from his place. Eleazar shrank in on himself. "Come Felix, put our guest back together now, if you could?"

The broad vampire let out a noncommittal grunt before throwing the detached limbs back to their owner, who caught them and quickly bound them back to his knees. Eleazar stood up, shaking, and bowed at the kings. "Your Honors," he began, but was cut off by Caius's strident voice.

"Don't bother with that rubbish, just tell us why you have been brought," the white-haired king snapped. Alec coughed quietly to hide his amusement at his mentor's nasally, overly dramatic and posh sounding voice. Athenodora had confided to the three siblings that she thought he had been trying to imitate King Henry VIII's voice, but they knew that he was just amusing himself in the twisted way that he usually did.

Eleazar clearly didn't know this, for he looked even more petrified. "S-sorry," he stuttered, "but I was told that, ah, my creator didn't inform me of the vampire life?" His voice grew higher in pitch as he flinched at Caius's cold gaze.

"Your creator," Marcus said, his voice only a wisp of its normal volume the way he had carefully constructed it to become. Isabella gave no response to her mentor's voice. "Who. Tell us."

"H-he liked to think of himself as Astaroth..." Eleazar's voice trailed off as Caius let out a hiss. "That _fool_ George is at it again, brother," the king growled. Aro glanced back and nodded slightly. "Yes... so it seems."

"We'll have to have a talk with him soon," Marcus mused. The three siblings glanced at each other. They remembered George. The one who had watched them for the masters. The one who had darted off to save the kings' new favorites, not by grabbing them from the flames as Sulpicia tried to or by sneakily putting them out the way only Afton could do by fading from others' sights. They didn't favor him over any others. His fate would be his fault.

"P-pardon, but what will come of me?" Eleazar stammered out.

"You may join us or leave," Aro said, waving his hand dismissively. "We can accommodate you until you find yourself a coven, or venture out as a nomad again."

"Will Chelsea not bind me to you?" Eleazar asked, slightly startled. Aro chortled at the thought.

"No, my dear, she shall not. We do not truly bind one another. Chelsea merely increases our bonds with each other. There is no point for her to bind anymore."

Eleazar was still surprised by this, no matter how many times he heard it.

"Then, if I may, I will take you up on this very generous offer, lords. I am Eleazar, as your guard knows."

"Are you gifted?" Aro asked, his eyes glinting.

"I do not know. I can usually sense others' potentials, but your guards left me with absolutely no impressions. Perhaps I have lost my ability," Eleazar said, sounding discouraged. Aro just glanced over at Isabella, who bit her lip before reluctantly drawing her mental barrier back slightly. Eleazar's eyes shot wide open at the sudden change in the other figures. Aro noticed his expression change and chuckled lightly.

"Our dear guard Isabella is to blame for that loss," Aro said, not minding Isabella's irritated hiss to him. "We will allow her to drop her shield for exactly thirty human's heartbeats before she will raise them. You may judge us as you wish." Isabella narrowed her eyes and huffed, much to Jane and Alec's amusement.

Eleazar merely nodded and prepared himself. He felt the protection the vampire was reluctantly dropping. Soon, power emanated from all around him, out-shining any he'd ever sensed before, practically overwhelming him. Eleazar struggled under the weight of the gifts, almost sighing in relief when Isabella promptly put her shields back in place as soon as the thirty seconds were up.

"There is a tracker, two mental weapons, two readers, a warrior, an empath, and a shield among us as we speak," Eleazar said when the shield was replaced. The sheer mastery of these gifts left him reeling. Never before had a person's potential screamed at him so.

"Very good. Who is who, and any details possible, please."

"If I may, master, why are we doing this?" Jane spoke up in a soft voice filled with venom. She did not like this Eleazar for infiltrating their minds to find their secrets.

"Dear Jane, he may help you unlock the rest of your power, if you hear the potential. But Eleazar, please step over here. I wish to see what you have seen."

Confused, Eleazar stepped forward and took Aro's proffered hand. Their palms brushed together for but a minute but in that time Aro had seen all that Eleazar had. Aro let go and nodded. "Please, continue your evaluation of us."

Eleazar cleared his throat and closed his eyes. "The Isabella you mention"-more hissing-"is the most powerful shield I have ever come across, for even now I can't feel her at all. The guard closest to you, who you have just called Jane, has spears that she can throw at people to make them feel the worst pain possible. The other guard with your fellow king can send out a fog that has the capacity to knock other vampires out. The lankier guard behind me can follow anyone's trail, no matter how old. The other has not lost his newborn strength. The king of the white hair can sense other's powerful emotions. The king on your other side can sense bonds forming and breaking, it seems. And you, king, can read thoughts by only the briefest of touches. This is all I can see."

Aro nodded, fascinated, until Caius broke in. The king of the white hair, as Eleazar had so eloquently put it, tired of his 'royal' voice and threw it to the metaphorical non-were-wolves. "Aro, do you suggest that this member become one of us while he searched for another coven?"

"That is exactly what I suggest, Caius," Aro said, dropping his illusion as well. Eleazar blinked at the sudden change.

"Mm." Marcus didn't have much else to add, so he just shrugged.

"Isabella, please escort our new guest to living quarters. I trust that you will know where to place him."

"Of course, sir Aro," Isabella said before glancing at Eleazar without any preconceptions for the first time. An unknown emotion flickered inside her; she felt she could trust him the way she trusted Felix: detached, but still friendly. She just accepted it. "This way, please."

She turned and swept out of the room, her almost-black cloak billowing out behind her. Eleazar walked quickly to catch up.

Unlike the last long-term visitor, Eleazar made a good impression on Isabella. He was polite, quiet, and only asked the most necessary questions, which she explained in careful detail.

"There is no hunting within city limits, and we only drink from the filth of the human race in order to defer notice. There are covens throughout the world we must keep track of; if you wish, my siblings and I will take you to meet some of the closer ones. Perhaps an illegal Spanish one has been created in our absence."

"I doubt it. I've spent my entire existence there and I haven't heard of one."

Isabella shrugged. "It was worth a try, no?"

They walked on in companionable silence until Isabella stopped in front of a room with a wooden door. This room wasn't the one that Carlisle had stayed in; it was a bit closer to the rest of the guard. If Eleazar ended up joining the Volturi coven, it would be a good place for him to live.

"Anything you want, you can buy from the nearby stores to furnish. If you want to meet the other guards, just talk to them. Or wait for one of us. We'll probably help you when you need it."

Eleazar shot her a grateful look. "Thank you. I have one last question though."

She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

"Why are you so kind to me so suddenly? You seemed to hate me when we were coming here from Spain."

She gave him a practically unnoticeable, fleeting smile. "You seem like the kind of person the guard needs. Also my feeling told me that I could trust you, and I always trust my intuition."

"That's a relief." She cocked her head in confusion. "That you trust me, I mean."

"I didn't say I trusted you yet, Ellie," he grumbled at the nickname, "I said that I could learn to trust you. I probably will never trust you. But I will trust you more than most. Good day."

With that, she turned and walked away from him. She had more packs to destroy.

* * *

The problem with werewolves is that they were too much like newborns to leave alone. They sprang up with abnormal strength and a complete lack of self-control. This, of course, equates to having to wipe them out to ensure that the humans lived on in their blissful ignorance of supernatural beings.

The year was 1847. Isabella, Jane, Alec, and Demetri had been tracking packs for at least fifty-nine years. They had destroyed many werewolves with the same methods as always. The packs never seemed to completely eradicate, but the lycanthropes did get dangerously close to extinction.

Sometimes, they brought Eleazar along, just to travel in hopes that he would find himself a coven. While Isabella seemed to only cautiously allow him out of her sight, Jane and Alec didn't let him anywhere near them and always kept a watchful, distrusting eye on him. That is, until he beat Jane at chess. Then she gained a grudging amount of respect for the Spaniard. Alec just shrugged inwardly when he realized that his sisters were slowly warming up to the newcomer and chatted with him whenever he felt like it.

Eleazar didn't really know what to make of the Volturi coven. They were tightly knit, yes, but there was a set of smaller groups within the larger that fit in almost like pieces of a puzzle that were themselves made up of smaller fragments. One of the key pieces was the three siblings and their mates. Felix and Heidi found themselves included in this segment as well as in Chelsea's group.

The three siblings, the ones at the center of this group, were some of the most gifted vampires that Eleazar had ever seen, and that they exerted complete control over their talents was even more interesting. With a bit of hesitant persuasion, he had convinced the siblings to help him develop his own abilities as a sensor. So now, they were sitting in one of the many multi-purpose meeting rooms, helping Eleazar by making him detail their gifts exactly.

"Well, what are all of the details about my gift?" Alec had asked patiently as Eleazar tried his hardest to decipher the gift. The older-looking vampire shook his head lightly and readjusted the stormy grey cloak he wore on his shoulders.

"It manifests itself in a cloud-like fashion... it... it's more numbing than anything..." Eleazar said in a strained voice as he concentrated all of his energy into analyzing the gift.

"Relax, Ellie," Jane snorted. She would never give up on that nickname for the vampire. "You have to learn how to hone it like an instinct. Like something that you would do subconsciously. Getting used to putting too much effort now, while training, will make you unable to use your gift without any effort later."

Eleazar took an unnecessary breath and tried to stop pushing himself so hard, just letting his mind gloss over the male vampire. Alec just sat and pretended to examine his nails nonchalantly as Eleazar struggled inwardly.

"Calm," Isabella said sharply. Eleazar forced himself to do so.

"Peace," Alec added, now glancing up at the struggling guard.

Eleazar closed his eyes and let his gift wash over him. He held his arms as loosely as possible, which Jane noticed.

"Good, Ellie, now just explain what it is you see or sense."

"It's completely mental, the gift. Literally, I mean. Those with a strong enough mental shield can force you back, the way your sister does. It has no substance, so it is more of an extension of your mind than anything. And it will cut off every sense."

"Good job," Alec said with a small grin. "That didn't take you too long, did it?"

Eleazar glanced out the window. The sun had moved at least thirty degrees. "No, not long at all," he responded with a hint of sarcasm.

"Try and guess my gifts, then," Jane said in curiosity.

It was much easier for Eleazar to extend his gift over Jane this time. "It's mental as well," he began. "More direct. Like a weapon. It inflicts a pain similar like a burning within yourself. And you can vary intensity depending on your emotion level and your intent."

They fell into silence, waiting for Eleazar to continue, but he didn't have much else to add. "I'm boring," Jane grumbled to herself.

"What about Isabella? What can you say about her?" Alec asked persistently.

"Not much. But I'm thinking she can be a mental or physical shield, although physical will need much more effort and blood energy. There isn't anything I can say, as I can't sense it at all."

"Eh, it was worth a shot," Jane said, laying upside down on a sofa, her head dangling by Alec's feet and her legs crossed next to his face.

Isabella snorted slightly. "You will never find out anything about me like that, Ellie," she said.

"What's with you three and that nickname?" Eleazar grumbled.

"And Demi. And Felix. And Afton. An-"

"We get it Jane. Everyone calls him that." The siblings' teasing soon ended the short lesson.

* * *

The traveler washed ashore at the south coast of France. She paused and stood, calculating her target. She stiffened.

_They're gone..._ She felt her inner wall crack ever so slightly, the wall that held back her despair and lachrymose sadness. Her loneliness. Her emptiness.

She steeled her courage and firmly forced the unwanted feelings back. She had to finish what she started without curling up into the freaking fetal position and sobbing like an unwanted human _brat_. She was above that, the way her sire had taught her.

She deflated, thinking about the family she had left behind. Others had been tentatively welcomed as of recent, making it easier for her to slip away. Would her sire despise her for leaving? She had no idea. She just knew that, no matter how nice the new recruits were, she would still be as morose as she had been for the past years.

The vagabond sighed and trudged along at human pace. She didn't feel the excitement from only moments before, when she had washed up.

She glanced around. There were too many people for this area to be so rural. She wandered more until she realized she had washed up surprisingly close to the city of Marseille. The traveler decided to venture into the city for prey, if anything at all.

She was pleasantly surprised by the city. It was a beautiful place, filled with interesting boutiques and cafes, and she soon found someone to entice into a dark alley and drain. Refreshed, she chose to take the day just to meander through the old buildings and wait for the signal to grow again.

She wasn't disappointed. By sundown, the traveler was off on her quest again, heading east yet again. Her sense seemed to be redirecting her to Italy. She felt a twinge of annoyance at this realization; she was _just there_, if she had only sulked there a bit longer, maybe she would have picked up on this new urge.

_It's in the past now,_ she berated herself. _I can't go back and erase it, even if it would have been only two days more to search where they are. I will find them. I will._

She shook her head and, under the light of the moon, she dashed away, back towards Italy, in the hopes of finding what she once lost.

* * *

**She shall now be known as 'the traveler', it seems.**

**Please check out the poll! Thanks!**

**~Shriayle**


	31. Hunt: Caught by the Past

***I did post this earlier, but I've decided to repost this after, oh, I don't know, _properly revising it._ Sorry about any inconvenience.  
**

**Sorry for the somewhat shorter chapter, but it ended in a good spot.**

**I'm trying to fill out the lower guard at the moment; currently, I have three members out of the ten that I need. If you want to contribute your OC, then go ahead and send me one, and I'll see if they make it in. Also, if you have a song suggestion, PLEASE SEND THEM TO ME. I need four more. If you do, I will guarantee that your OC will end up in this story.**

**Finally, poll for next story. This one's only past halfway done, buutttt planning takes forever and I want to get started ASAP. I'll cut the poll off around (American) Thanksgiving, so you have a little over a month to vote and I have a little more than a month to plan and prewrite because the next story WILL be released in early 2015 :D**

**REPLIES (Only a few to do~)**

**MoonPrincess623: heheheh I already really answered your question privately but for anyone else, mating pairs are still not set in stone. The Olympia coven will most likely be broken up, and other characters that are mateless may be given other mates. That being said, I'm still not sure exactly who Isabella's mate is, but I have two strong options. Which I will not tell you. HAHA.**

**I am in Loki's Army: Please don't injure yourself in excitement. Or, y'know, seem insane. That would be sorta bad. I'm not sure how much the wolves will be a major part of this story, but I've thought through their part in the universe too. Also if your sister knows that this story is making you this crazy, make her read it because I want to know her reaction too :P**

**Arabella Whitlock: ...maybe. :3**

* * *

Snarls. Clawing arms. Wild motions. Glinting teeth. Desperate grunts. Panicked yelps. The sound of tearing flesh. Blood spurting, light fading from within. With every drop spilt, another life was brought closer to its conclusion. The dying motions of the figures were outlined in the sandy ground as they thrashed about, limps flying.

Isabella curled her lip as she watched the three figures jerk about and heard them whimper in anguish. She no longer pitied the men-who-were-naught-but-animals. They rolled in the dirt with glee and didn't accomplish anything in the world the way vampires were taught to. They didn't try to deflect attention; what was this about silver being able to destroy them?

She caught one of the wolves' eyes. He was torn apart, his very nerves carefully stretched to breaking point and left to die in pure agony. And yet he still lived. He refused to cry out. Unlike his brethren, who fell around him in high-pitched keening and loud howls of pain as their arms were ripped away from their shoulders and their legs were broken with the guards' steps. He stared at his attackers, his eyes filled with unadulterated fury. He refused to give in. She felt a sort of grudging admiration for that.

Isabella gestured to Jane, who then moved towards her older sister with curiosity in her eyes. "Yes, sister?"

"This one is being insolent. Teach it a lesson," Isabella intoned, pointing to the wolf in question.

Jane turned her fiery gaze upon him, her lips curled in a feral grin. "With great pleasure, my dear sister," she sneered out, sending waves of pain to flood the wolf's system, tracing its course along his already tender nerves.

The wolf gave a tiny whimper. Isabella could see him bite his lip to keep the pain within him. His eyes welled in pain and tears traced numerous tracks down his face and he clenched his eyes closed in an expression of utter torment, but he didn't let out a single noise apart from the occasional whimper to show off his pain.

Isabella bit her own lip. She admired this wolf, who decided against changing to make himself more physically powerful and was forced through this process, all due to his species. "Enough, sister," she said, ceasing the mental barrage.

Jane blinked. Her sister never made her stop halfway before. "But he's not dead yet," she said bluntly. The wolf flinched at her apparent disappointment.

"We'll bring him with us," Isabella decreed, to the vampires' shock and wolf's horror.

"Why?" Demetri burst out. He had just kicked the last pile of limbs onto the pile and was coming back for this one.

"His Majesty will find him curious," Isabella snapped. Alec nodded and quickly numbed the wolf. The man's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he went limp. Isabella carefully kicked his limbs back into place and shrugged in indifference. "One of you get a blanket from somewhere," she ordered. "We need to haul this sorry excuse of a life form back to Italy."

* * *

The pulse wasn't fading this time. She grew more and more excited as the urge in fact grew stronger with every step she took. She breezed through the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire and onto the peninsula that once housed the greatest civilization the West ever saw. She sang out gaily as she streaked through the forests, feeling the pull grow stronger as she was drawn to her destination. She paused in by one set of ruins, bowing quickly and muttering a few prayers to whatever beings there were, praying that she would not be disappointed.

The unknown pull was increasing incrementally, but it was now extremely painful and practically impossible for her to bear without a grimace. It desperately forced her along, but she decided that a _stupid chest pain that shouldn't even exist let alone tell her how to function _couldn't tell her how to live her life. Er, existence. Whatever. She kept one frigid hand curled up in a fist on her chest for some kind of temporary relief as she walked along at human speed.

This pain was only temporary, she told herself, gritting her teeth, venom welling in her mouth from the pain. Once she found them again, it would leave her. She could pull through. She knew that she could.

_Wow_, she sounded like a wheel of cheese. She swallowed the venom back with a feral grin.

Sometimes, she completely forgot what they even looked like. She only thought of random little snippets that characterized them, which was all she could remember. She remembered a kindly smile, a sarcastic smirk, an unimpressed set of red eyes, a burst of laughter, but not much else. She needed to see them again, to reestablish their imprint in her soul.

They always held a bit of her soul in their hands, anyhow. She was too close to them for that to never happen. They would forever call her theirs, and they would be hers. It was the way she always remembered.

She glanced up, a small smile dancing across her face in anticipation when she realized that the pain was beginning to die down ever so slightly, indicating that she was getting infinitesimally closer. Her smile just as quickly vanished as she stared in horror.

Her heart stopped and her pace faltered as she found herself drawing close to the Forbidden Land. _It can't be..._ she thought, but her insides persisted in leading her to Volterra, the land of the vampire kings. The very land her sire had carefully instructed her to avoid.

_Oh no..._ Her feet finally stopped moving. She couldn't take another step, no matter how much her pull persisted. Which it did. Painfully.

She was standing in front of the feared castle, agony forgotten.

If she had a heart, it would be beating so fast that her ears would be drowned in the silent commotion of coursing blood.

The traveler whimpered slightly. _Why would they..._ She couldn't even form a coherent thought anymore. She simply could not continue. Fear ruled her body more than the pull.

_Maybe he's there for vacation,_ she thought to herself in sardonic amusement. She shook her head mock-amiably and brought her focus back to what was at hand.

The door.

Leading into the admittedly beautiful castle covered in carved statues and beautiful designs.

_Bite me._

She sighed and drew up her courage. Tartarus knew that she would need it.

* * *

Aro was indeed intrigued by this new finding. The werewolf had been carefully revived only for him to cry out at the sudden onslaught of pain from his abused physical body. They had no choice but to make Alec numb him again until they figured out what to do with the creature.

The kings all differed in their opinions of what to do with the beast. Marcus suggested letting it choose whether to live with them peacefully or be killed, for there was no possible way that he would allow the creature to terrorize other lives. Caius thought that it should be kept under high security and questioned for the safety of the vampiric community. Aro was curious about him and wanted to study him further.

Finally, they decided to follow Marcus's suggestion, for once. The wolf was formally asked to decide whether to die or to live.

* * *

Isabella, Jane, and Alec had banded together (again) and convinced Demetri to remain in the castle. They destroyed practically all of the werewolves left in the continent, they reasoned to him, and it wouldn't be any help to have an extra member of a hunting party that would have split up anyhow. Why would that help at all? It wouldn't. Ha.

Demetri had grumbled and acquitted, especially when Jane winked at him and promised him that she'd make it all up later, with something thousands of times better than embroidery. He was more than happy to agree after that.

Felix just coughed out something that sounded suspiciously like "Whipped."

Demetri glared back.

After all of the 'excitement' was over, the three siblings ran towards the acrid scents of a city. The very air was stained with soot, and they could easily sense the largest metropolises for this reason.

"This is disgusting," Jane snarled, wrinkling her nose delicately as they walked in a crowd.

"While Jane is usually woefully incorrect about her tastes, I agree. This isn't much fun to navigate," Alec grumbled next to her, ignoring her angered outburst at the snarky comment.

Isabella just sighed. "This is the best that we can make do with," she growled.

"Can't we just go to the Holy Roman Empire again?" Jane muttered, her eyes darkening in impatience. And thirst.

"You do mean the German Confederation, right?" Alec interjected.

"What?"

"They've actually unified and are calling themselves 'Germany' last I checked."

Jane stamped her foot and groaned, glaring at any humans who stared at them curiously. "Humans are the most confusing creatures that God could have created," Jane growled out, stalking away.

"And with that, we're off to hunt," Isabella said with a slight sigh. She raised her voice ever so slightly. "Meet back here in two hours, hmm?"

"Yes, sister," the twins chorused.

"You two do not know how utterly bizarre that is," Isabella said with a snort.

Alec and Jane set off together, posing as two unguarded juveniles. They wandered down alleys, chattering loudly and mindlessly to draw human predators in.

They were not disappointed. Soon, three men were crowding around them, fawning over Jane and sneering at Alec.

"Why, you're just a little princess, aren't you?" one cooed, tugging at Jane's sleeve as if a small child. She rearranged her facial features to appear confused and scared and yanked back as lightly as possible to imitate a human's strength. "Let me go!" she whined.

"Oh, don't be like that," another rumbled, wrapping his arms around her waist from beyond. He let his hands begin to trail up her body. "You're too pretty for us to just let you leave. There are unsavory folk in this area. This isn't the place that you'd want to wander around in, just the two of you. You need a strong man to lead you around here."

"Are you saying something, sir?" Alec piped up, his voice intentionally high. "I can take care of the two of us, right?"

Jane decided to seize the opportunity to poke Alec back for his earlier sarcasm. "Well..."

Alec outright glared at her. "But I try so hard to _protect you_ and _make sure you're not seen_," he responded, emphasizing words to remind her of the sister that expected them soon. Jane glanced at the sun quickly and swore lightly under her breath. They only had an hour to finish playing with their prey and wandering about the city.

"Ah, I suppose," she said more loudly, sticking her lower lip out in a fake pout. "I guess that we need to be back soon."

"You can't be leaving us so quickly," the third man said, standing in their way. "You came into our territory. Local rules say that we can claim you however we wish. And," he looked at her in a dark, lustful manner that veiled Alec's vision in red, "we do wish to claim you, little lady."

The first two men snickered from behind the twins, fully expecting the two of them to be easy targets. What they didn't expect was for Jane to pounce on their apparent leader and snap his neck with little more than a flick of the wrist.

They gaped openly as she slit his carotid artery open. When she made a huge show of lapping up the blood like a cat, they screamed and tried to run, only to see Alec dart in front of them far too quickly. "I'm sorry, sirs, but you aren't going to be leaving," he said pleasantly before quickly tangling his analgesic around their legs and effectively cutting off the only way they could have left. He then turned them around, careful not to break anything, and forced them to watch as his sister finished drinking their leader.

Jane let the body fall with an ungraceful _THUMP!_ She licked her lips before spitting out a mixture of blood and venom that immediately shriveled up the weed it landed on. This last bit made the two grown men howl as an apparently-fifteen-year-old advanced on them slowly.

"Brother, you may choose first," Jane said, mock-bowing at him.

"How chivalrous, sister," he retorted before throwing one at her. "This one, then," he said, holding up the man by the neck.

She gave the other a feral grin. "Night night, bad man," she sang out. They simultaneously snapped the men's neck and quickly drained the bodies before setting them on fire.

"We may have gone a bit overboard there," Alec commented as they watched the plume of smoke make its way through the sky.

Jane just shrugged before they quickly left before the law enforcement could catch them burning bodies of wanted rapists.

* * *

The traveler, as certain as she was that what she sought was on the other side of the door, didn't want to enter.

_Here. This is where my dreams come true. Where I meet them again. But why don't I want to? This is all I've desired for centuries..._ Her thoughts ran wild as she stared helplessly at the simple door. The one ornate part, the doorknob, looked like a very artistic interpretation of an eyeball, and it was just staring at her. _Even the inanimate objects are judging me_, she grumbled to herself. She snickered darkly to herself.

She sighed in disgust and glared back at the doorknob. Its gaze seemed to turn almost mocking. _Come on_, it goaded. _I hide all which you seek. Why don't you just turn me, open up here, and see what there is? I promise I won't disappoint you._

_Fuck off,_ she thought to the voice in her mind. "Zeus be damned, I'm talking to fucking inanimate objects in my fucking head now. Shit."

_Never before have you cussed this much to no one at all, little miss. Little dirty-mouthed miss_, the doorknob responded to her. _Little miss should be punished, yes she should._

She felt close to screaming. She was going insane, she _fucking knew she would_.

The traveler wanted to curl into a ball and sob, but she had come too far and lost too much for that to ever happen. She was a fighter, damn it all, and it didn't matter what shit she had to deal with. She would pull through.

No matter what this dumbass doorknob had to say about it.

* * *

The siblings silently returned home. Isabella heard from Alec what they had done and offered nothing more than the most dramatic eye roll she could muster in response.

They saw the castle slowly appear in front of them. They slipped around to the back entrance they always used.

"Odd," Jane commented once they were inside.

"What is it, sister?" Isabella asked.

"I thought I scented someone new. But they seemed almost familiar." She shrugged. "Well, whoever it was or whatever, I can't sense it anymore. Probably a passing nomad."

Isabella just shrugged before pushing her siblings through the door good-naturedly. "The sun's coming out, guys. We need to get inside."

* * *

The traveler sighed. She had sat on the stoop for far too long. She hadn't come this far to sit on a stone step and bemoan her fate.

She had smelled the three others. They seemed nice enough, but they didn't come her direction. The door in front was probably for show, for visitors anyhow. Why would the residents use the same door they made their subjects use, anyhow?

She only hoped that the guards hadn't bound the one she sought.

She glanced up dully. A split second later, she had leapt to her feet and was hyperventilating. No, she was too close to this castle to give herself away now! She just couldn't let her sparkling skin be seen. She shot the doorknob a desperate look. It stared judgingly back at her.

She could either go inside of her own volition or be forced inside for breaking the law. The former was obviously the lesser of two evils.

She took a deep breath, carefully rearranged her dark-brown curls so that they didn't fall in her eyes, and cautiously grabbed the eyeball that still hissed congratulations and encouragement to her. She turned it hesitantly and opened the door with a loud _CREEAAAAKKKKKK_.

She couldn't really see who was inside just then. She just sighed and slid one foot in, then another, then closed the door.

It was the first time in a while that she'd even thought of stepping foot into a building barely lit by the sun. The windows were high and narrow, arched but thin. They had been carved into the stone, yes, but there were quite a few ornamental statures and structures surrounding them that deviously cut off the light sources. _Sneaky bastards,_ she thought grudgingly.

Her eyes fell to the figure behind the desk.

* * *

Isabella was on reception duty. Again.

_Why does Aro keep giving me this job?_ she thought to herself, although she knew the answer. Her shield was powerful enough to stop all other gifts from affecting her while her combat talent would easily incapacitate others.

But still. It was the principle. She was one of the older guards; she shouldn't be delegated to just receptionist work.

Besides no one ever came in at noon-

_CREEAAAAKKKKKK..._

She stood corrected.

Isabella glanced up to see who it was that was entering. It was a female vampire, looking around nervously. She had dark locks that fell just past her shoulders, high cheekbones, and well-proportioned features. But her scent reminded Isabella of... oranges? citrus? She wasn't really sure. It seemed familiar somehow.

_This must be the vampire from before._

The vampire finally looked at her and started. Immediately, Isabella felt something brush on her shield and immediately honed in on the new vampire, the intruder. The intruder that suddenly held her hands up, eyes wide, and backed away skittishly. As if her slight assault was only instinct. _Which_ _was_ _possible_, Isabella admitted grudgingly.

" _Αχ, λυπάμαι! Εγώ δεν_ _σας δούμε εκεί_!" ("Ah, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!") she stuttered out.

Isabella blinked. Of all the languages this vagabond could speak in, she _had_ to choose one of the ones that Isabella actually didn't know. _Of course._

The foreigner took a moment to think before speaking in broken Italian.

"Erm," she began, "_Εγώ_-I, uh, I would like to see the _βασιλιά_, er, king, please."

"Which one?" Isabella asked, her business front back on.

"It, um, doesn't matter," the vampire said, her mind set on Italian now.

"Very well, come with me," Isabella said, glancing at her sympathetically and leading her through the labyrinth that was her home.

* * *

The traveler cursed her luck. Of course her gift had to flare up when she didn't want it to. _Zeus damn it. Zeus just fucking damn it._

_He did do a lot of that though, _she sniggered to herself. _There are too many stories based on how Zeus had a love affair and then bore a child. He even raped that one queen as a swan. How she didn't know what was happening, I have no idea._

Struggling to regain control of her thoughts, she followed the mahogany-haired vampire down winding hallways until they were within a few meters of a carved door. Then, the miraculous happened.

Jane and Alec were with their mates, talking amiably, when they noticed Isabella and all four of them came up to her.

"Can we play our instruments together later, sister? I've been practicing as hard as I can," Jane begged, her eyes widened the way she used to widen them when they were still but children. Chuckling at her sister's antics, Isabella could only nod.

"Can we listen, Alec?" Renata asked. Alec immediately agreed, and the four vampires busily organized their tiny, impromptu concert.

Demetri shook his head, his eyes never leaving the back of Jane's head, and he sighed. "They won't ever grow up," he said teasingly, glancing at the visitor momentarily to see if any humor gleamed in their eyes. He had looked back to Jane before freezing, startled.

He slowly looked back up, his eyes disbelieving.

The traveler was staring straight back at him with the same emotion, if only a bit more maudlin because of the tears that threatened to fall from her face.

"D-Demetri?" she stuttered out, an expression of pure joy spilling across her face. He was not as much happy as completely shocked.

"Lenna?!" he responded, thunderstruck.

"Demi? What's going on?" Jane asked, finally aware of the odd situation surrounding her.

* * *

**heeheehee  
**

**Yes, Lenna is an OC. She was created by I am in Loki's Army (thanks friend) Wait for the next chapter to find out more about her~~**

**~Shriayle**


	32. Hunt: Revelations and Unwanted Shocks

**Hello again~ Reminder to PLEASE VOTE ON THE POLL FOR THE NEXT STORY I WILL WRITE! This story is rapidly reaching its climax and we can only go downhill from there D: If you want to stay updated on what I'm writing, please vote for a story. I will announce the winner on the first December update.**

**REPLIES:**

**MoonPrincess623: By P I assume you mean Peter. Uh... never thought of that one, I'll tell you. I think Peter will stay with Charlotte though, to be completely honest. I still haven't figured out who Isabella will be mated to, haha. I'll cross that bridge once I get there.**

**Arabella Whitlock, Alice (Guest): Who is Lenna, you ask? You shall soon find out... in, y'know, a couple of paragraphs xD**

**Also, to Alice: YAY FOR SURPRISES! I almost thought that the one line of Demetri's musing was a bit abrupt and gave too much away, but I guess not. Also thanks for liking the story so much :) And in all honesty, while I wouldn't call it Edward _bashing_, there will be a look into Edward's character that isn't filtered through Bella/replacement-Bella's lovesick mind. Actually, it will probably sound a bit like bashing now that I think of it.**

**Slytherin of the Sea: Heehee, keep reading! And the wolf will slowly be unveiled here as well.**

**I am in Loki's Army: (hey, you know who Lenna is I hope) YAS GIRL YAS :D **

**korifamous122: Haha, sorry 'bout that (but not really heheh) Please resuscitate yourself, for the next update has arrived!**

* * *

The two vampires stared at each other, eyes widened almost comically. The female, the one Demetri had called "Lenna", was almost drinking in Demetri's appearance, looking at him up and down with a longing expression. Demetri was still in a state of shock: he just stared straight into her face, as if he had seen the Devil and wouldn't forget his visage. And that very same Devil was right in front of him.

As amusing as a surprised Demetri was (he acted too much like a suave, slippery little snake all the time, the idiot), Jane was completely confused and not only a little bit upset by this revelation. She glanced from the female vampire to the male, back and forth, until she grew tired of their dramatic actions. _What is going on?_

"Demi? Demi. Demi. Demi. Demi. Demetri." Her repetitive persistence didn't have any effect; Demetri was still staring at this other female. "DEMETRI." Jane raised her voice. He didn't respond.

"DEMETRI!" Jane coupled her final shout with the tiniest bit of pain, almost like that of a pinch to the side. She conjured up the smallest amount that could be noticeable and made it into a fine point. She poked him with her mental arsenal.

"OW!" Okay, maybe not that tiny. Maybe more like a sharpened stick being jabbed into his back.

He finally turned to her, glaring at her with burning, red eyes. "What was that for?!"

"You've been staring at her for the past three minutes and forty-seven seconds, Demetri," Renata piped up, raising a delicate eyebrow. Isabella blinked at her forthright, blatant remark. Alec glanced at her, appreciating her sarcasm, and nodded to her. "I've taught you well, my love," he teased. Renata just smiled softly at him, batting her eyelashes.

"I may vomit," Jane said dryly as she watched the two interact. They were much more outright now that Renata had been drawn out of her shell. Once a painfully shy, negative vampire, Renata was now a confident, strong-willed girl. Which meant, of course, that she was now as cocky as Alec could get while still retaining her sweet nature.

Demetri was rubbing his temples, as if he had a migraine from their presence or antics. He looked for help from Isabella, who just smirked and shrugged back.

"Don't look at me," she said, raising her hands in a mock surrendering position. "I just take care of them. Their personalities are their own. I just let them be. You know that, Demetri."

Sighing, Demetri turned back to the other vampire. "Lenna, why are you here?" he finally asked. The vampire in question blinked, suddenly torn from her wide-eyed wonder at seeing him again.

"Er, well, ah," she stuttered, caught off-guard. "You vanished one day and I finally got to get away from our leader. So I came to find you. Took me 50 years to track your presence down. How do you do it?"

"He's not my leader anymore," Demetri corrected, sounding distracted. "And it's my gift. I need to know how to control it. It's not your talent at all, even if we share mothers and sires." He shook his head lightly, as if upset that she didn't remember the tiny detail.

"As much as your confusion is simply _hilarious_ to see, I need to tell the kings something as soon as possible as they can probably hear us from this side of the door. What shall I say?" Isabella asked, tapping a foot impatiently, eyes darting from their faces to the door almost anxiously. Demetri hadn't really seen her seem so nervous before. It was almost refreshing.

"Just tell them that I have an unwanted visitor I have to take care of and that I will be on duty in about one hour, if you will," Demetri said in a clipped tone. Isabella nodded and walked into the throne room to announce what he said, almost word for word. Meanwhile, Demetri grabbed Lenna's arm and directed her down the hall he came from. "This way, Lenna."

Lenna just let herself be pulled along. She wanted answers, and although his previous statements hurt (since when was she 'unwanted?'), she knew she had to give him the opportunity to explain himself. She had waited for far too long for an explanation; a few extra seconds would be more than enough payment for her patience. And her loosening grip on her freaking sanity, as was proved by that stupid eyeball doorknob thing from earlier.

They passed more rooms and halls but no other guards, much to Demetri's relief. He yanked the door to his and Jane's room open and practically shoved Lenna in. She glared back at him and snatched her arm out of his hand, stalking over to an available chair and plopping herself down in it. She looked around the room and nodded to acknowledge its beauty. Though she didn't credit Demetri with any of the carefully messy set up, for he was too brash and thoughtless to create it.

Demetri stood in the doorway, facing the door. He raised a clenched fist and hit it on the rock somewhat gently (he didn't want to form any cracks and then explain to Jane later why he had gone and destroyed their doorway) and kept his hand where it hit the stone as if posing. Finally, he let out an unusually loud sigh and turned to the other vampire, back leaning against the door, glowering.

"So. Why are you here?"

Lenna glared at him more strongly. "Demetri, what's crawled up _your_ ass and died? Amun wasn't paying me any damn attention when I left; I'm pretty sure he's still caught up in his newest pretty boy. So if you're going to tell me to go back, you can just fuck yourself right now because I sure as Tartarus won't go back. He ain't got anything to do with me anymore."

"That's bullshit," Demetri sneered. "Since when did Amun recruit so stupidly? Since when did he purposefully change humans? That's not the sire that we grew up with. When did it change?"

"Since a couple decades ago, when a bunch of powdery _shitheads_ came and nearly _killed all of us_ and _left us to die_! But _you_ wouldn't know that, would you? You were long gone since then, never to visit, never to see how we were doing, never to see if _your own fucking SISTER were still FUNCTIONING!_ No, you had to go and _abandon me_ the way you promised Mother you _never would_!" Lenna screeched, finally being able to throw all of her emotional baggage off of her chest. She shook with tearless sobs.

Demetri was dumbfounded again. "Lenna, I didn't know, I've been here, working," he tried, his mind still racing about the 'powdery shitheads.' Since when did the Romanians show an interest in Egypt?

Of course, Lenna didn't know anything about his internal monologue. "I DON'T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT THIS DUMBASS PLACE YOU'RE LIVING IN NOW AND ANY OF THE FUCKWAD PEOPLE YOU WORK WITH NOW!" Lenna screamed, livid. "ALL I WANTED WAS MY BROTHER. MY BLOODY BROTHER. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO FUCKING ASK FOR?!"

Demetri was still hung up on her first statement. "NONE OF THE GUARDS I WORK WITH ARE AS _IGNORANT_ AS YOU'RE BEING RIGHT NOW, LENNA," he yelled back, composure forgotten. He flung his heavy cloak off and tried to regain his posture by pacing and gritting his teeth.

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK! I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT IF THERE'S SOMEONE HERE YOU'RE CLOSE TO, THEY SHOULDN'T MATTER AS MUCH AS FAMILY, DAMN IT DEMETRI!"

Demetri froze and turned. "What did you say?" he asked, icy cold.

"You heard me, brother," she snarled back, "I don't care a single fucking bit about any of the dumbasses you're working with. I only wanted to hope to _fucking Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades_ that you were still alive. Now that you are, I want to stay with you until I am ground to dust."

"Don't give me that crap," he shot back. "Just because you've been brainwashed by Amun doesn't mean that anyone outside of the Egyptian coven is any stupider than we were there."

"Such a martyr, my brother is!" Lenna exclaimed, acting as though she were talking to someone next to her. "He gives up everything, from his _family_, to his _blood_, to the _centers of his universe_, all for the good of our species."

Demetri could only stare at her in disbelief. "What did Amun tell you about my departure?" he asked quietly. His mind raced with the numerous possibilities

Lenna smoothed out the front of her tattered, discolored white dress and took a deep breath to calm herself down. "He said that you decided to join the governing body of your own free will. Why?"

"That's it?"

"...yes..?"

Demetri ran a hand through his hair and sighed, closing his eyes. He was pacing around again.

"What is it this time, brother?"

Demetri gave her a helpless glance. "Give me a second," he muttered, shoving the door open and letting it swing shut behind him.

Lenna was wondering what came of him until she could hear him coming back with someone else. It was a feminine voice, tinged with curiosity: "Demetri? Is something the matter? What happened?" Demetri walked in, his face set in determination, and behind him walked the small girl with pale brown, almost blonde hair from earlier. The one in the mass of others. The girl looked at Lenna in wonder before turning back to Demetri.

"What is it?" she asked persistently.

"Lenna, this is Jane," Demetri said awkwardly, unconsciously letting his arm rest on Jane's back, his hand snaking around her waist.

"It's a pleasure," Jane said uncertainly when Lenna let out a high-pitched giggle.

"...what exactly did I miss?" Jane asked, staring at Lenna bewilderedly.

Demetri just smiled and shook his head slightly. "My maker never told the rest of the coven that I left because of you," Demetri said succinctly.

Jane blinked. "Seriously?"

Demetri nodded. Lenna tried to curb her laughter.

"Oh, gods, Amun must have been so _awkward_ about that," she snorted out before regaining some composure. "Oh, gods. I'm so sorry, I'm Lenna, I'm this one's blood sister, and if you're his mate, then that means we're sisters by default, yeah?"

Jane blinked. "That's nice."

"Don't you want a sister?"

"I already have one, thanks," Jane replied somewhat coldly. Demetri responded by poking her cheek. Her eyes shot to his and narrowed at his impish yet admonishing expression.

"That's my sister. Treat her well," Demetri scolded. Jane let out a dramatic sigh and spun out of his grip, walking towards the door. She turned and leaned against it.

"I suppose so," she said in an over-exaggerated manner before pushing the door aside with a smirk and walking out calmly.

Lenna let out a low whistle. "Damn, brother, I approve of your tastes."

"...thanks?"

* * *

Isabella wasn't sure what to make of Lenna. Jane had told her that "that little _witch_ wanted to take you place, Isa," but Isabella herself didn't know what to make of it. She just decided to reserve judgement now, although Lenna wasn't making that easy on them.

Lenna wanted to befriend Jane and Alec and Isabella; it was almost sad how blatantly obvious and earnest her attempts were. She constantly tried to spark conversations with the three of them, looking confused by their esoteric vocabulary (which they only used around her, to Renata's amusement and Demetri's disapproval) and invariably giving up for the day. Or the hour. Or sometimes even just for five bloody minutes.

On one occasion, she walked into a 'game room' to find Jane, Isabella, Alec, and Renata sitting in various places and engaged in various activities. Jane was looking through a chest of something, Isabella was reading a book in a chair, and Alec and Renata were trying to arrange themselves on a sofa.

"Do any of you want to go hunting?" she asked this time.

"Lenna, we went hunting two weeks ago, we still have a few more we can wait for," Isabella ground out.

Lenna's visage rearranged itself into surprise. "Seriously? I was hunting every week when I was trying to find Demetri. How do you guys do it? I mean, you probably don't move as much as I did, but still. With the Egyptians I still consumed every two weeks or so at worst."

Alec had kept his eyes closed after he and Renata finally agreed on what to do. He sat on the sofa upside-down, his feet on top of the sofa's back and his head dangling off of the seat cushion. He opened one eye and looked at her upside-down form. "Guilty as charged," he said with a slight smirk before closing his eye again. Renata lay on the sofa next to him, her legs hanging off of an armrest and her head on Alec's chest. She just rolled her eyes at her mate.

Lenna blinked. "Excuse me?"

"What my idiot twin is trying to say," Jane said as she fished out and dexterously shuffled a deck of cards from the chest, "is that he kills off our throat's flames at Aro's bidding. We don't really feel thirst anymore. We haven't since he learned to control his gift-thingy. So now we only measure if we need to satiate ourselves by eye hue."

Lenna just nodded, still in awe of their admittedly induced control.

Jane shrugged. She flicked through the cards. "Anyone up for a game of Euchre?"

* * *

It was the Child of the Moon that interested Isabella far more than this mere pest of a female. Isabella visited the werewolf daily, not saying a word, merely observing its actions. It was still in its male form, and it obviously didn't change that often. It was clean-shaven, with stony brownish-gray eyes and muscles that still worked well enough for him to walk with his shoulders squared and his chin up. He seemed an arrogant asshole, but Isabella admired his courage.

She didn't miss the trembling in his form or the fear in his eyes, of course.

The wolf refused to speak until he was properly situated and healed. It had been a long process, repairing the damage, but only a few weeks had passed before he was perfectly fine. Now he was silent because he was morose and angry at the vampire coven for bringing him here. Rather than letting him die with the other wolves. With his pack.

Isabella took the raw slab of meat she had and threw it down in front of the wolf. The wolf, who was really a man, gave it a disgusted look as it slapped the ground with a loud, wet noise. He growled at her, his eyes darting from the meat to her blank expression.

"Come now, you have to eat something," she chided, saying her first words to him. He shuddered at the high-pitched tone of her voice before curling up into a ball, hands over his head. She heard his sobbing. She just stood in the doorway of his room, the bloody meat on the floor about a meter in front of her, and listened to him softly cry into his hands.

The werewolf was startled by a sudden influx of vampire scent and a hand on his shoulder. He looked up quickly, not comprehending the vampire standing above him now.

Her eyes were as cold as ever, but her words came out soft and smooth as silk. "You have to regain some strength in your limbs. Perhaps if you listened to us and ate when you had to, we would let you out to run once in a while."

"Damn you," he responded quietly. "Damn you and your kind for destroying mine. I wasn't born like this as much as you were. I was happy being bound to this mortal earth for an immortal time. But now, I have no purpose to live. I wish to waste away and rejoin my brethren."

"Shame," Isabella replied with a shrug. "You would make an excellent addition to our coven."

The werewolf's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.

"There isn't any other path," Isabella said, drifting towards the door. "There will be one action that will decide the course of your life. It would be funny if you thought that you had control yourself, hmm?"

"What are you talking about?" the lycanthrope persisted, finally uncurling himself and standing up once again. "I demand to know!"

"But you shan't, not for now," Isabella said, whipping out of the room and closing the door quickly enough to avoid having her head crushed by the werewolf's suddenly expanding jaw. She stared through the tiny barred window on the door at the man who had given himself a wolf's head. The wolf's head disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, turning back into the head of the man. Unacknowledged tears shone in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Isabella whispered before drifting away.

* * *

Aro's curiosity of the new creature never abated. In fact, Caius's curiosity increased upon hearing how Isabella got the monster to speak. He visited the wolf afterwards and returned a somewhat horrified but happy man.

"He was tortured prior to your _intervention_, Isabella," Caius told her after tracking her down. She raised her eyebrows. "Seriously?" she responded in disbelief.

Caius nodded and sighed. "I think that's the only reason why he's nervous after seeing you destroy the rest of his pack."

Isabella just sighed and threw her arms up. "Well, scitte, nothing I can do then. We'll have to wait for him to heal himself or something."

"Ask Aro for help."

Isabella spun around to see Caius walking off after delivering his cryptic message.

She blinked and sighed again. _Better than nothing, you useless bastard,_ she grumbled to Caius before walking down the hallways to find the king. She paused slightly to listen to the pitiful howlish whimpers of the lycanthrope. The pained cries forced her to walk on, shaking her head slightly. She didn't wish this life onto anyone, even a member of the species she despised.

Aro was at his desk, working on treaties with other countries-slash-cities in order to keep the mystique around Volterra at a minimum. He was intrigued when she cautiously opened the door and approached him for advice. "Caius sent me to ask you what to do about the werewolf," she said in a monotone voice, giving nothing away. Aro let out a breath, put his pen down, leaned back, and closed his eyes, hands touching only by the tips of his fingers with his thumbs pressing against his chin and his pointer fingers on his glabella. He was silent for a moment longer.

He opened his eyes. "I have read his thoughts. They were, to put it lightly, sickening. Bones broken by his own mother, skin torn off of his back from whippings as a human, acid thrown into his eyes-"

"What was that last one?" Isabella asked sharply, as if her ears could deceive her.

Aro raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You must have noticed, dear Isabella, that our guest is almost completely blind."

"He did act a bit...strange," Isabella said, the thought finally striking her. The wolf had known approximately where her face was, but didn't hear her approach him or really look at her straight in the eyes. She had observed his eyes, which darted back and forth more quickly than a human's. She had disregarded this as a werewolf's tendency, but the others she had hunted had locked onto her with burnished gold eyes that glared brightly.

Their werewolf, his eyes were a dull brown. As though they had lost their life.

Isabella jerked back. "I pity the creature, sir," she admitted to him.

Aro chuckled in a melancholy manner. "As do I, my guard. But I'm afraid that we have only one more thing we can do with him before anything else, and you know what we must try."

Isabella nodded forcefully. She then got up and walked out of the room without another word.

* * *

Lenna knew that she was being carefully watched. She just wasn't sure by whom.

She had never imagined that her older brother, the one that had railed against the Pharaoh until Amun had managed to shut him up, would willingly join another government. Then again, he had that little midget of a mate to consider now. She had to be at least half a meter shorter than him or something.

He had probably bonded to her the second he set eyes on her and understood that she wouldn't stay in Egypt and that Amun would willingly let him follow his heart.

_Since when did my brother become so fucking sentimental in my mind?_ she thought to herself wryly. Maybe it was her inner jealousy. Or maybe she grudged Jane the fact that she had stolen away the only solid presence in Lenna's life. Demetri had always been with her and the little girl had taken him away, swept him up in her clutches.

Were they serious in their relationship? Lenna made a mental note to ask Demetri how, er, _active_ the two of them were. It would be beyond awkward to walk into a room with intense coitus of any kind, much less her brother and his mate. Lenna then shuddered and tried to rid her mind of the image of Demetri crawling towards Jane, teasing her through some sort of perverted foreplay, before-

_ And that's ENOUGH._ She tried her hardest to completely erase her poor, scarred mind. What she didn't know was that she was now clawing at the top of her head, rolling around on a couch, and letting out odd whimpering noises.

Demetri walked in to see the bizarre sight. Eleazar had been quietly talking to Afton in the room as well, cloaked in his invisibility. The guards just gave him an amused yet helpless look.

"Lenna, what's wrong?" Demetri ventured. To which his sister screamed and sprinted out of the room.

Demetri just sighed. Lenna was not endearing herself to anyone with those actions at all. He vaguely wondered what could have made her so high-strung before shrugging and lying on the couch she had just vacated.

Eleazar timidly approached Demetri. "Excuse me," the olive-toned vampire said quietly. Demetri glanced over to him before drawing himself into a sit and gesturing to the other side of the sofa for Eleazar to sit on.

"What is it, Eleazar? Is it something to do with my sister again?" Demetri asked. It most likely was. His sister was just an odd being that he grew to accept in his life. _Unfortunately_, he said with an internal smirk.

"Well, her gift, Aro might ask her to join the guard, give her a proper cloak and everything. Maybe she'll become a lower guard like Afton and I. Who knows. But she will join, I think."

Demetri thought briefly about the skills his sister had shown off and nodded absently, agreeing with Eleazar's analysis. "Yeah, that goes with the kings' policies," he said. "Thanks, Eleazar."

The Spanish vampire nodded back, got up, exchanged a few last words with Afton, and left the room. Demetri just sighed and shook his head. Why did his sister have to show up and ruin the peace of his life now? Why couldn't she just have been happy by herself in Amun's coven? They hadn't been as close as Jane and Alec and Isabella were, after all. There was no bond to really be cemented over as vampires, although they did depend on each other for survival. Maybe that was it. Maybe Lenna just needed him back in her life as a rock, a shoulder to lean on.

Demetri got up slowly and walked out of the room, nodding to acknowledge Afton. He had to find the rest of the family and get their opinion somehow.

* * *

**VOTE ON THE POLL NOW. I need to start my researching to start the next story as soon as this one has been effectively wrapped up, okay?**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Shriayle**


	33. Hunt: Inner Soliloquy, Outer Action

**Well, this took a bit longer than it probably should have. A couple of new plot points come into play here, and I added another smaller section based on what you guys said about Lenna. I love all the hate for her xD It sure wasn't my intention. I kind of used her as a counterexample of what the sibling bond really was. It's explained in here.  
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**WARNING: There can be some scenes in this chapter that _could_ technically be considered rated M if you're a stickler about it. There is some reference to coitus (as Lenna calls it xD) but it won't talk about _certain parts of the human anatomy below the waistline_ in unnecessary detail. Really, the trigger warning is because gross imagery and violence. Yep. It shouldn't be any worse than the earlier castration in my opinion though. If you don't want to read the section I am referring too, please skip the last block, and I will sum it up in one sentence at the end. THIS WAS YOUR WARNINGGGG  
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**Also VOTE ON THE POLL RIGHT NOW. PLEASE.  
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**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: Hmm, not quite. Isabella will be mated relatively soon.**

**I am in Loki's Army: I HOPE YOU WAITED THEN :3**

**Slytherin of the Sea: You may feel worse for him in this one, since it talks very briefly about his backstory. VEEEEERY briefly.**

**MoonPrincess623: Don't worry, the story won't end without Isabella being mated, now that I've written out the rest of the plot. It's done. I've kind of cemented a mate too, but I'm going to have to see if the muse within me decides otherwise again.**

**Guest: YAY FOR ANSWERING QUESTIONNNSSSSS**

**Lizzee (Guest): I don't take orders from you ;) She's somewhat annoying because of undisclosed reasons, I guess. As for the timeline, Amun just didn't let her leave the coven for like 800 years. Basically undermines the possible sibling bond as it's shown that sibling-bonded... siblings... can't survive without each other (see: Isabella ran into certain death for the twins) As for chapters? Anywhere between 3-7. Depends on how quickly I think the plot should move.  
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**Alice (Guest): (wow long paragraph to answer too sigh) Read above comments about the sibling thing, or read the actual chapter as it is addressed there too :) I didn't really like Edward either, myself. Lenna's still got a bit more to go in the Volturi, but she is of the lower guard, not the same stature as the siblings, and therefore she won't be as important later on. (HA I did answer them somewhat directly) Replacement-Bella is an actual replacement for Bella. The plot will be slightly different for the Twilight series perspective later, but it will be almost exactly the same plotline. This story explores Isabella's perspective on that entire trainwreck of a story. She will be human. She will be as emotionless and featureless as Bella herself. Her name just won't be Bella, of course. We've already got our Isabella :D  
**

* * *

Isabella stared at the werewolf again. This time, she had brought a chair and lugged it into the wolf's cell, sitting down on it as she observed him. He sat with his back to the door, twitching every five seconds or so as though he were constantly on edge just because of her presence. Although he didn't turn to look at her when she walked in, he seemed to sense her presence. He didn't seem to really like it. She must have made him uncomfortable somehow.

"Do you mind leaving?" he growled, glancing over his shoulder at her. The full moon had long since passed, giving him even more of his humanity, and now he was in a clean set of clothes courtesy of Santiago. He nervously tugged at the collar of his black shirt as he looked in her general direction. Isabella saw his dull brown eyes dart all around that area as his nose wrinkled in disgust at her scent. She noted how _civilized_ he seemed compared to the other packs she had destroyed. It unnerved her to no end to see a wretched dog sitting so calmly in the face of his greatest foe. All of the other lycanthropes she had come across in her years of destruction had cowed away from the vampire's sharp scents and whimpered in their cold, vengeful might. Then again, he was a rather _delightful_ person to be around. A mortal that could stand to be with immortals. What a joke.

Isabella let out a humorless laugh, knowing he wouldn't be able to see her smirk. "I'd rather not, actually. I'd rather learn about you. Who are you? What is your name?" She peppered him with questions, each in an increasingly stinging tone as if she wanted to physically discomfort him the way Jane probably would have. She knew that he was too strong mentally to respond in any way other than blatant ignorance. It wasn't the same physically; she eyes his scrawny form. He needed more food badly.

The lycanthrope snorted and turned away. "Like I'd tell you," he retorted, fists clenching. _So he isn't as good at masking emotion as he'd like to say he is..._ Isabella mused, a flicker of vindictive pleasure brushing her core. Maybe she shouldn't bring him food. Maybe that would make him too cocky.

"You have to play nice, now that you're away from the dogs and the filth you lived in before," Isabella said nonchalantly, examining her nails although she knew that he couldn't see her actions. A low growl of wounded pride ripped through the wolf before breaking off into a cough stuck in the back of his throat. Isabella watched him spasm as his body ripped hacking barks out of his vocal chords and threw them around him. She saw his hand draw away from his mouth with the smallest smudge of blood painted on his palm. She heard his heart beat faster as he stared at the fluid on his hand, horrified. She put her hand down, cutting off the charade she put on for him, the charade he would never see.

"What if I told you that you could be partially spared from the pain I know you will go through later?" The werewolf turned completely around, his unseeing eyes blazing with unadulterated disgust at her question. He wanted answers.

"What are you talking about?" he snarled at her, his pupils dilating though he couldn't see through them.

"Ah, ah," she said with a teasing tone. "I won't say any more until you tell me what I want to know. So go."

The wolf stared at her, his eyes narrowing, before sighing and reaching out behind him. He cautiously backed up until he felt the cool stone wall and slid down it, onto the ground. "I suppose that's fair," he mumbled, still looking at her. He swallowed slightly; she assumed it was because of the blood from the way his face screwed up in pain and bitterness.

"My name is John. I was born in Prague. I was seventeen when turned six months ago. Now I am physically closer to twenty-one from what I can tell. You killed my maker, who had been a wolf for two months before finding and changing me. I had three older sisters who all think I am now dead. When I was younger, my friend accidentally sprayed me with arsenic in the face because I surprised him as he was throwing poison for the vermin around his house. I was lucky to not be left scarred for life, but I was partially blinded. I now see in blurs. I rely on my ears to tell me where to go and my nose to tell me who is in front of me. Is that enough for you?"

Isabella let out a "hmm" as she thought. "Yes, that should satiate the masters. They should be most pleased with this." She knew in the back of her mind that it was much worse, that the story he fabricated didn't come near the truth of what Aro informed her.

John's eyes narrowed at her again. His hair, a much more vivacious brown than his eyes, had fallen in front of his face and he impatiently swept it out of his eyes. "So what is this about pain, anyhow? And who are you, who took me away from my former life?"

Isabella let out a small sigh. "Where do I even begin?" she muttered to herself theatrically before stretching her limbs out and making the tiniest of sounds, completely ignoring the second question. "Well, judging by your appearance, it isn't too late, so that's good."

John made a startled move, jerking his body up as his eyes snapped to Isabella's face. "What do you mean?" he asked heatedly, a growl coaxing itself out of his body while forcing him to spew more bodily fluids out orally.

"Werewolf venom has a tendency to deteriorate its host," Isabella explained nonchalantly, looking at the blood dripping out of his mouth. As she spoke, he spat the foamy, red liquid out and tried to stop himself from coughing. "The men that we've seen taken over by it would have died even if we didn't intervene. Simply put, your blood is killing you. It travels at too high a temperature for the human body, for you are fundamentally still a human, to function with, and is cooking your body from the inside out. So now, your body is systematically breaking the no longer working parts down and forcing you to eject it through whatever is the most convenient means. Of course, there are added side effects, like not being appealing to us, advanced healing, somewhat eternal youth until you fall apart, and on and on. But what we haven't tested is if our venom will attack your bloodstream or coexist with it. And that's what one of the masters wants to test."

John's head spun. "So I'm going to be bitten by a vampire?" he asked faintly.

Isabella gave a wide, feral grin she knew he couldn't see. "You're pretty fast for your education level. I'm afraid so, my clever friend."

To his credit, he didn't say anything, nor did he tear up in fear or despair. Instead, his eyes gained a determined yet desperate light as he cast them onto the ground. He set his teeth firmly together, grinding the tips of his canines together as he fought past his inner anguish, physical and emotional. The werewolf said and did nothing else as Isabella quietly picked up her chair and walked out of the room. He sat, still as a stone, staring at the floor.

* * *

Demetri avoided his sister at all costs. She understood why now, too; now that he knew she was okay, he went back to the sort-of-ignoring that he'd always done with her. And she was perfectly fine with that. She was even okay with the fact that he had a mate now, and that she was more important to him than his human-born sister.

But what baffled Lenna was how close his mate was to her siblings. The three of them defended themselves ferociously, never failing to retaliate when one was maligned. Yes, they welcomed others, like the twins' mates or sometimes Felix and Eleazar, but most of the time it was just the three talking about subjects that no one else knew anything about. Even Demetri wasn't privy to everything Jane knew. Not even Aro and his sister who was also a queen, Didyme, had that sort of relationship.

Lenna was enthralled by their bond. It was unlike any other she had ever witnessed. She longed for that kind of closeness to someone, anyone, even someone who wasn't her own brother. For all the ribbing she gave him over forgetting about his flesh and blood, she was more than willing to do so herself.

Amun hadn't let her leave after Demetri left. She had no outright reason to, and her gift was far too valuable to him to be lost. He had just lost the best tracker in existence, though to a good reason. He didn't want to lose his less valuable offensive mind. She understood that, too. As a coven leader, he had to think in terms of their overall survival. But then, the powder-faced ones had come to decimate them and they threatened them and left. Amun was even more frightful, frightful enough to change a boy willingly in hopes of gaining a new offensive skill.

She had left then, following the urge that all coven members had towards each other. Lenna had slowly unbound herself from Amun but was still bound to Demetri, if only to find him. Now, she was bonded to no one. She knew that when the time came, the bond would arise again. She didn't feel the urge yet. Sometimes, it came back, fluttering in her chest. Other times, it was silent, leaving her desperately wishing it came back. She didn't know what to do other than trust her instincts and her gifts. No one else.

Even her dear older brother.

The melody flowed out of her fingertips as though it was water pouring down a stream, or maybe blood coursing through a human's veins. Water had long since ceased having appeal for Isabella.

She sighed and leaned back slightly as she kept playing. It was an odd little melody she played, one she had just come up with on the spot. One hand kept the main harmony going. The other embellished it with her own creation. Really, she wasn't thinking about what she did at all, instead choosing to stare at the wall above the piano and _think_ about what was going on around her.

A new vampire had come. Lenna, she called herself. Isabella saw no reason not to trust her, but her actions irritated Isabella. Regardless, she was also Demetri's sister, one with whom he stayed for practically his entire life until Jane drew him away from Egypt. Isabella had noticed the lack of siblings' bond between vampires. What was it about her and her siblings that enabled such a feat? She had noticed Lenna staring at their little group longingly, but didn't sense any innate jealousy. She didn't want to be close to her brother? It made no sense to Isabella.

She mindlessly set up an Alberti bass line with her left hand, beginning a Mozart piece with the other. The tune was joyful, light, and fairly simple, unlike everything that was going on inside Isabella's mind. Inside there, there was still too much turmoil.

She now acknowledged that she must have some sort of mate in the world. That was the only explanation for the emptiness she felt. And, though visiting John and talking to her siblings helped, she didn't have much else to do to fill the odd void left deep within her. So now, she waited, and she hoped that the mate, the cursed fool, that was deep within her would soon stop calling out so much. That whoever it was would get distracted and would be unable to get to her so painfully in the coming years.

She snorted and slammed the piano keyboard in the middle of the airy piece, creating a dissonant chord and almost breaking the keys off. She knew she wouldn't be lucky enough to avoid agony in the coming months.

* * *

"Isabella, it's time."

She flinched at the words. "Now?" she asked quietly.

Marcus nodded somberly. "And Aro wants you to be the one to do it."

She recoiled even more violently this time. "What?! I didn't prepare myself for this! I need to go hunt, need to make sure it's okay, need to-"

Marcus laid a hand on his panicking, uncharacteristically babbling apprentice. "Peace, young one," he rumbled, looking directly into her eyes. "You will be prepared enough. You are the only one who knows the monster well."

"_John_."

"See?"

Isabella sighed, knowing that she couldn't fight the logic. She ran a hand through her mahogany hair. "But what if I mess up?" she asked quietly. He heard the underlying question, though. _What if he dies?_

Marcus shook his head firmly. "We cannot be thinking about that, Isabella. We must focus on your task at hand. You must think only of yourself when you pierce his neck. Do not think about its taste, or how it soothes you. Think about what you are doing for us as a coven, as a government. This is something we need to know about. I need you to do this for us."

Isabella remained silent. Marcus noticed her boy was trembling ever so slightly. He drew her up in his arms and held her the way a father soothes his daughter when she runs to him for protection as the sun goes down.

"You will do it, Isabella," he said quietly. "I know you will. You will think of who he is as a person, not just what you must do."

Isabella closed her eyes, nodded jerkily, and gently pulled away from the comfort he provided. She pushed the door open and sighed, her shoulders moving visibly. She recomposed herself and began walking down the path she had long since gotten used to, the one that led to John's room.

The werewolf's heartbeat was racing again, much more audibly this time. She could even hear it from outside of the room. But she also heard something else. Steadier breathing, with a hint of wheezing. He didn't have much more time left, the poor thing. She grimaced. Since when was she so maudlin?

She walked into the room, her mask set. Aro was already in there, and he nodded with approval when she entered. "Isabella," he acknowledged.

"You're going to be my executioner?" John asked flatly.

Isabella winced. "Think of it this way, _dog_," Caius spat out, incensed that the werewolf had managed to singlehandedly disarm one of the most stoic of the Volturi's guards. "This will either save your life or end it. The latter would happen anyways. She could be giving you life."

John's eyes flashed, his teeth were bared, he was prepared to transform to rip off this vampire's head-

No. He shouldn't. He should accept this chance as a possibility of rebirth. He had too much left to do in the world to just cut himself off now.

He sighed, leaning back, one hand running through his hair again. He closed his dirt-brown eyes and thought deeply, weighing his options, as his body politely (or not so much) coughed as if to remind him of his _expiration date_. He had to do this.

Nodding glumly, John looked toward Isabella again. "Go for it," he said with a dull voice.

Aro glanced to Isabella. Her mask was up again, but he would see the fear in her eyes. She didn't fear this wolf's reaction. She feared his destruction. She didn't fear the wolf, she feared for him. It was the most valiant thing he had ever seen towards the Cursed Ones.

Isabella stood behind John, yanked his head up, and bit down onto his neck, injecting her venom into his bloodstream. He stiffened and howled in pain like a rabid dog. Ignoring his plight, she quickly grabbed one wrist, slashed it open with her teeth, and spat onto it before turning and ridding her mouth of the foul blood that ran through his veins. It wasn't the luscious liquid she sustained of. It tasted more like human's coffee than anything else. _Bleh, _she thought grumpily as she bit his other wrist. At least she wasn't going to drain him due to uncontrollable bloodlust now.

John was keening like a kicked puppy now, curling up into fetal position. As the vampires watched, blood began to drip out of his orifices. It wasn't red at all; it was a dark brown, nearly black liquid, with occasional white specks. The second they saw even a trace of red, almost-human's blood, the second the scent of the liquid changed, it stopped pouring out of his twitching form. Isabella frantically asked Caius to bring Alec in to kill the wolf's pain, fearing his superhuman strength in the very heart of Volturi Castle itself.

For three days and three nights, the vampires watched from the sides of the room as the werewolf became still. They watched with bated breath and prayed that he would awake again.

* * *

Gnashing teeth. Clawing hands, hands that tore through skin as though they were outfitted with talons. Burning, crimson colored eyes. The same colored liquid splattered on the ground as though a small child had a horrendous temper tantrum. A wretched, pitiful scream of agony, of the knowledge of impending doom, of the horror of a life being torn away so young. A demented smile painting the lips of a young Hispanic woman, one who appeared to be almost in her young adult years, yet almost as small as a child at least two years younger. She gave a shrill giggle, one that promised of happiness and sunshine when all it would give was pain and a forced rebirth.

Her brown hair was matted with dried blood and her skin was crusted with the substance, but she didn't care. She leaned forward towards her trembling victim. She had mutilated him brutally, torn his skin and watched him bleed, but it would be all worth it, for she wasn't done quite yet. She wanted something more from this sniveling, trembling mess. Giggling to herself in glee, she darted forward. Her lips grazed his neck quickly, and a strand of his dirty blond hair trailed away with her lips. Despite himself, the human moaned. Her soft kiss was divine, much more pleasurable than the pain she had just thrust upon him. Yet, in his mind, he knew she was pure danger, that he had to _get away!_

The vampire heard the small noise and smiled even wider. "Is my little _toy_ in need of a little something?" she cooed, positioning herself over his crushed form. He swallowed and scrambled backwards, tried to back up with the one somewhat useful arm he had left; she had broken the other one and he swore that he could see the bone protruding from his arm, blood spurting from the wound. He cursed his wild mind and raging teenage hormones as his body reacted in a completely different manner, yearning for her touch and stretching itself towards her form.

She smirked and sat down almost coyly in his lap, feeling him against her inner thigh. She leaned forward, malice glinting in the deepest regions of her eyes. Her once red, but now virtually pitch black eyes. The human whimpered, in his rational mind from fear and in his id from want, and he futilely tried to push himself backwards yet again.

"Naughty, naughty, little boy," the vampire whispered, shoving her hand on his crotch and palming him violently through his jeans. "You can't go yet. The fun has only just begun, my little toy. You are nothing more to me than a means for my revenge. But that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it, my pet, oh no."

Her hand rapaciously gripped. He seized up, his body arcing in pleasure while his voice shrieked in pure fear, in horror.

The demented grin was back on display, and this time she shrieked as well. Her shriek was different. It was one of laughter, of pleasure at his complete ambivalence.

"Oh no, my little pet!" she screamed over his yelps for help, unbuttoning his jeans fluidly with one hand while forcing the other down into his hot core, relishing in the yelp of shock he gave at her freezing cold hand. She began to force herself onto him, throwing him onto the ground with her shoulders, ignoring his sobs and muffled shrieks. "You won't be doing that kind of screeching anymore! I own you now, you ungrateful whelp, and you will do as I order! Are my orders clear?"

In between the tears that racked his body, the defenseless boy nodded fervently. He would have agreed to anything, _everything_, if only this woman just left him alone and stopped... whatever it was that she was doing to him. If only she would stop invading him so brutally in a way he didn't know a woman could.

To his despair, the horror never ended.

She smiled again, her sharpened teeth (all purely for show) fully on display for his exhausted pale blue eyes. She leaned down at him, inhaled deeply into his neck, inducing a shiver, and leaned away again, nodding in approval. She reached over with another hand to pull some sort of device closer to her. He thought it looked like a rough stick, freshly torn off of a tree, its bark scraped away. He blinked. It _was_ a stick freshly torn off of a tree with its bark scraped away. He squirmed in discomfort. She clicked her tongue in mock disapproval.

"No, my little toy, you cannot think about these kinds of things for yourself. Let your master think of what is best for you, yes?" He nodded mindlessly, not knowing that he doomed himself for what would seem like eternity.

She leaned in closer, her right hand deep in the denim of his pants, her left curling around his neck, stick lying next to his mangled body, and she bumped her forehead against his. He tried to look away, but she forced him to look at her, straight into the black pitfalls that were her eyes. Her gleeful, unsympathetic eyes. Her eyes that now danced at all of the possibilities of what she could do to her latest little minion.

"Don't worry, my little pet, your mistress Maria will take care of you from now on." She leaned down, as if to kiss his neck again. She made sure that he was distracted by another one of her body parts, gripped his neck more firmly, and sank her teeth into his throat, injecting venom into his jugular and carotid.

Now, the only noises coming from him were moans of the pain of transformation as she pleasured himself with his helpless body, gleefully ignoring the screeches of agony he emitted.

* * *

**One sentence that I promised you guys: Maria is raping some as-of-yet unknown male character. Male rape is something I don't always see addressed in today's culture. Probably because of the entire masculinity complex. Now, before I go off into some rant about society, I'm going to say that John is based off of one of my close friends :D They have similar personalities (this persona you see of John rn is not his usual personality), both are brunet and they are both legally blind. This John is more blind than my friend John. But that's where the similarity kinda stops. I.E. The John I know as a friend has hazel eyes, he's nowhere near 21, etc. **

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	34. Hunt: War is Coming

**I'm surprised at how many of you thought unknown-guy was Jasper. Yeesh. I may be cruel to my characters, but not that cruel. Although this guy could prolly disagree with that statement.****  
**

**REPLIES (to other reviewers!):**

**ClumsyReader: Jasper will play a major role in this story, whether he is Isabella's mate or not.**

**Crackers414: Welcome to the crazy train :D**

**YunaNeko: xD Here's the chapter, then.**

**chipmunk742: Oh, heck no. I can vouch for that. That is the one thing I will assure you of. Isabella's mate will be a canon character.  
**

**I am in Loki's Army: I was hoping people would find that more amusing than me actually calling the body parts by their scientific names :3 Also if she doesn't read it now she might regret it laterrrrrrrrr or she can, y'know, read the next story I'm planning to write.**

**milagglad: Well, update, so...**

**gabba6 (Guest): wow**

* * *

It was dawn on the fourth day when the first sign came. John had long since stopped thrashing about and had been lying still, as all supernatural creatures can. His head lolled to one side, and his eyelids were open only the smallest amount. Isabella hadn't dared to approach his crumpled form, to see if his irises had turned red and if he had been given new sight somehow. The other vampires didn't dare leave their corners of the room; the kings were standing against the wall on Isabella's other side, and Alec was right beside her, wide-eyed and unmoving. The vampires waited for the newest to awaken or decay.

They heard it first. A slight cough from his lips. The racking pains that they associated with it now couldn't be heard at all. Rather, he sounded as though he were clearing his throat.

Slowly, John opened his eyes to stare at the grainy ceiling. He didn't notice any difference in smell or touch or taste; after all, he had already been gifted with enhanced senses thanks to the poison that had killed his body before. Now, he felt a bit lighter, almost. As though his body had regained its old vitality.

Isabella couldn't see his eyes. Neither could the kings. They didn't know what else to expect of him, but they knew that they didn't eradicate the werewolf portion of him. The werewolf would always be there. Whether or not it would function the same was a different story.

John hesitantly hoisted himself up into a sitting position with a slight grunt. As soon as he did so, his legs crossed and his back slumped, he massaged an aching temple. His head seemed to be slowly cracking open; as he rubbed, the pain got worse and worse. Soon, he thought his skull might break open and his brains would be dashed on the ground just because of its pressure. He yelped to himself, curled up, his head buried into his lap, as he tried to fight the primal urge that his id forced him into.

His curled form began to expand and sprout fur, his teeth elongating, his nose turning into a snout, and soon he was a wolf instead. It was his wolf form, albeit much more animalistic. While he had once been a canine creature that walked on two legs only on the full moon, he was now an actual wolf, despite being the size of a lion. He shook his head slightly, mind racing.

Isabella hesitantly stepped forward. "John?" she ventured.

The wolf turned to stare at her. She stifled a gasp.

His eyes had a whitish film that appeared to be almost like spider webs streaking across his pupils. He obviously hadn't regained his vision, which didn't surprise her. What shocked her was that his eyes were golden, as golden as Carlisle's had been.

The wolf-that-was-John gave a shudder and seemed to shrink into himself. He seemed to vibrate before becoming a man once again, a man without any clothing on. Isabella quickly averted her eyes as Caius threw him a cloak. Dark grey, the color of slate. John was to be lower guard, it seemed.

John threw the cloak on and drew it around himself, as if to claim some modesty. "What was that?" he asked, mesmerized. His voice had gained a baritone quality, making him sound ever so slightly older, but for the most part, he remained the same. He didn't even appear too much paler, though his skin shimmered in the half-light of the dungeon room.

Aro's head cocked to one side. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a gift. A shapeshifting gift. See if you can't become anything else, and somehow take the cloak along with you."

John nodded at the implied command and closed his glowing, _honey-yellow_ (God, how Isabella hated that color!) eyes. A look of determined concentration drifted onto his face, and soon a small white bird with a grey head and wings was flitting about the room, letting out soft chirps. He landed on Isabella, poked her stony cheek with his stony beak, nodded at her, staring with those oddly colored eyes, before flying off and simultaneously changing back as he landed.

Aro nodded, looking delighted. "As I thought," he crowed quietly, though all could hear. "You are indeed one of a kind, sir. I hope you don't mind not being in our elite as of yet; the others had at least 500 years to prove their loyalty. I'm afraid we as the kings must give you the same amount of time."

John nodded slightly, his eyes filled with exhilarating mirth. "Yes, of course," he agreed. "Master," he added after a moment of thought. Isabella let out a quiet snort. Of course, she was the only one who defied Aro, though he knew he had her respect. It was the only thing that stood in the way of her possibly being torn apart and not put back together for a good century or so.

Aro looked even more pleased at the title and seemed to practically be _preening_ himself. Caius just looked vaguely annoyed and amused at the same time. Marcus had long since lost interest in the conversation going on and was talking to Alec about suppressing the wolf's newfound thirst.

Speaking of which.

"John, do you have any, er, cravings of sorts right now?" Isabella asked.

"Well, I'm not pregnant or anything, so no."

Isabella rolled her eyes and Alec made a suspicious noise that sounded like a chortle being hastily covered up by a hand. Caius sighed at their collective immaturity. Aro blinked in mortified shock at his forthrightness.

"Of course not," Marcus said, as he was the only one with complete control over his emotions. "Isabella is merely asking of your thirst. And how great it is."

John swallowed suddenly, as though he just thought of the fierce dryness residing within his throat. Isabella and Alec brought him out of the dungeon carefully and asked Jane to bring back prey for the wolf. She returned with an unconscious prostitute, who John wasted no time in draining. He didn't stop there though; he practically tore her chest open to eat her heart.

"I haven't seen that before," Jane commented wryly, staring at the carnage. John's eyes widened as he realized what he had done, and he lurched backwards, a scream buried in his now satiated throat.

"As I thought," Aro murmured, appearing as if from nowhere. "The wolf is still within you and craves flesh. The vampire side is much more demanding and asks for blood. Your body willingly copes, but the animal part wants something more substantial. I daresay that you will most likely limit yourself to the heart, as eating an entire body is probably not very appetizing for you.

"I'll say," John muttered. Interestingly, his eyes didn't lose their amber glow. Instead, they intensified in yellowness rather than gaining redness. Isabella decided that the tiny detail was too little to even both thinking about, and she gave up on judging them rather than judging her friend for what he really was.

By this time, Jane had called Felix to help her get rid of the body, which he gladly did. He liked the feeling of setting things on fire, apparently. _Sadistic bastard_, Jane thought to herself with a snort. Alec had quietly muted the once-werewolf's throat and told him to go hunt for himself in the next month, if he could curb his thirst as well as he had before. As the mood swings based on bloodlust were killed off, John's humanity shone through.

It was with more than just a hint of exasperation that the Volturi found out that John had an impish side to him that enjoyed pranking others in something they affectionately called "terrorizing". He would mercilessly tease any other guard for any tiny reason, making even the quiet guards suddenly become spitfires. Aro found it tremendously amusing. Caius found it tremendously annoying. Marcus didn't really care, as was usual.

Isabella, Jane, Alec, Demetri, and Renata found themselves bearing the brunt of the terrorizing. John had an air of sadistic mirth with them, knowing that they wouldn't respond with much more than a stinging remark or maybe a punch to the chest. He would stalk them silently from the shadows as a feral cat before pouncing on them, crushing them in a large embrace, licking their cheeks, and darting away as a sparrow as they shouted at him crossly. On more than one occasion, Isabella found him carving the chess pieces so that the kings, queens, and rooks all looked like bishops. Jane's cards would suspiciously go missing before being found carefully glued to the ceiling to spell out lewd remarks. Alec's cloak would be swept off of his shoulders and thrown over his head with blatant disregard for whatever he was doing. The guard tolerated John's trickery, if only because his pranks were admittedly too minor to even bother them.

It was with much more ease that John settled into his position in the Lower Volturi Guard.

* * *

The boy finally awoke, his eyes shining a glaring red color, much different from the previous baby blue eyes he once sported. His body ached everywhere, from his neck all the way down to his legs. The area in between them ached, but he tried not to think about what the _witch_ had done down there. He had to remain strong.

Speaking of witches, he could see her sitting in the corner of the room, clothes ripped and covered in blood. And she was smirking. The devil in a crystallized body. The symbolic form of lust. The one deadly sin that precluded the others.

The newborn stumbled backwards away from her, his latest memories crashing into his conscious mind all at once. The tearing of the skin, the molestation, the terror, the complete fear that a woman held in her hands and played with like a toy. He shuddered to think of what happened in the time while he was unconscious and fighting the inner flames.

"Ah, ah, my little toy," the bitch whispered. He heard every word crystal clear. He could feel himself being taken over by fear again.

"Come here, toy," she commanded, and he reluctantly did so. She owned him now, didn't she? Why else would she do what she wanted with him? He should feel grateful that she wanted him, now that he was ruined. Now that his innocence had been snatched away violently with a lasting sneer. He felt almost lifeless as he struggled forward.

"Now now, you're coming too slowly, toy, a bit faster now," she instructed lightly, as though asking him to hurry with a cup of coffee. And hurry he did, stumbling over on all fours as though he were a mangy cur.

"Good boy," she cooed at him, running her hands through his hair. He shuddered and whimpered at the contact, at the burning in his throat, at his overall situation. He keened a bit more loudly when it seemed as though she didn't understand his predicament. He thirsted. He needed to satiate himself.

She tapped him on the nose lightly. "No, my little toy, you won't get anything until I get something." He shrank back again, fear filling his gaze once more. "That's not what I want. Not yet, anyhow," she said, rolling her eyes. He felt himself go complacent in despair. Would the horror ever end for him?

"You see, I have too many toys to keep calling you just that. There are just too many of you to be had, you see, and I have many pets too. It's almost like the world wanted to give me so many!" She let out a demented giggle. He was still in shock from what she had said. There were more? More that felt the same way that he did? More that were forced into the servitude, for lack of a better word?

For the first time, he felt a ray of hope. Maybe he could lead them into revolt.

Or not.

"Latest toy, I'm going to need your name. I need to be able to tell my toys apart, you see, and even though you're made slightly differently, you all look too similar for that to happen. I have my own set of clothing for you too. I'm just going to have so much fun with you! My partners like playing with you too, so I need to make sure that you're mine and not theirs, you see." She sounded like some crazed little girl as she rambled on about toys and material and having fun. He felt sick to his stomach. He silently shifted position; her hand was still possessively on his head and he had not much else he could do.

"Now, your name, toy."

His throat burned with the aridity of the Sahara. He barely managed to clear it slightly with a small cough before it filled with sand again. "I am Cooper, mistress," he managed to rumble out before the thirst took over his throat again. She looked delighted that he had called her his mistress. That was what she was now, wasn't it? She owned him now.

"Cooper." She sounded the name out on her tongue before nodding in satisfaction. "Well, Cooper, I have a little tea party that I need to make sure all of my toys are there for. I'll have so many scrumptious delights for all of you! And you can meet my other toys as well! There's Cheryl and Jenny and Scott and Ray and so many more for you to meet! There'll be enough for you to have, and even more! Really, it'll be perfect."

She stood up quickly, dragging him along with her by the hair. He towered over her by at least nine inches, but he kept his head bowed and his body bent so that he still looked up at her.

"Come, Cooper the toy, we will go and dress you up all pretty and perfect and then we will go to a tea party," Maria commanded, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him out of the blood-soaked house with a skip in her step. "I have to change too! A lady must be presentable at the parties she hosts, right, darling Cooper?"

He nodded mutely, thinking to himself that she was the farthest from a lady possible. She was a witch that stole his life. But he couldn't say that to her, could he? She would just _play_ with him again, and maybe more... enthusiastically.

He dumbly followed her to his doom.

* * *

"Name?"

"Whitlock."

"Mm. Age? Dee-oh-bee?"

"I'm s-err, eighteen, sir. Was born in July of forty-four."

"A young'un, are ye?"

"Yessir."

Beady eyes. They stared into the teenager's, trying to call his bluff on anything.

"I'm gonna tell it to ye straight, kid, war ain't nothin' to laugh at. Y'ain't gonna find your true love or whatever bullshit they be feedin' ye. Ye ain't gonna be savin' no maidens in distress either. Ye're gonna be killin' for the Confederacy. Ye hear?"

A short nod. Almost a staccato of a beat. "I hear you, sir."

A snort. "Ye speak like a city kid." A slight smirk, a new condescending tone. "Ye sure ye can handle the dogs o' war, kid?"

A reassured smile. "I'm certain, sir. I will not let the Confederacy down."

Another beady stare. A slight surrender with the eyes, darting down at the paper and the signed name. Jasper Whitlock. A strong name for a stronger man, it seemed.

"Well kid, welcome to th' army. Go get a gun."

"Yessir.

* * *

A crow flew around the city limits of Volterra. Not too many people saw anything wrong about this, though if some looked closely, they might have noticed the glowing golden eyes the bird sported. The vampire-turned-bird winged his way around the city once more, making sure that nothing was out of place. He did not need to feed, but he was willing to kill to protect the denizens.

Satisfied by his search, John flew back to Volturi Castle and landed mid-transformation. He stood up fully and calmly walked in, running his fingers through his windswept hair.

He abruptly nearly walked into a pole, but gracefully caught himself and walked around it.

"Smooth moves there, John," someone said from behind him. He paused and scented the air around him before smirking. "Well, Jane, it's my eyes, you see, I need to get them seen."

The other vampire rolled her eyes and snorted. "Yeah yeah, you have creepy colored eyes. Anyhow, what's up around the city? It seems louder than normal."

"Haven't you heard? They're celebrating the triumphs of a certain saint."

Jane sighed. "Is it that time already?" she asked dramatically.

John shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged, looking down in Jane's general direction. She was nearly twenty centimeters shorter than him, and trying to locate where she was had always been a struggle for John. He had finally gotten used to seeing the blur of pale brown, almost blonde hair, but it had taken a while.

"Where're your siblings, Jane?" he inquired. They had planned to go out together into the fair.

She shrugged herself. "I'm actually not all that sure myself. I think Alec and Renata are off playing chess in another room. Isabella might be in her room. Who knows."

"Maybe I should go have a look-see," John said with a lazy stretch.

Jane smirked. "To do that, you'd have to know what part of the castle you're in. And from what I saw with that column just now, you don't have a single clue where you are."

John glared the best he could at her. "Thanks, Jane," he grumbled.

She gave him a radiant smile. "Any time, wolfy."

"Will you stop calling me that?" he groaned.

"Sure thing, Fido."

"Oh, for heaven's sake."

* * *

Isabella was at her piano again. She didn't know why it called her so much, nowadays, but she found herself sitting on the bench whenever she seemed to have any time to spare and she would be playing long, luxurious lines while thinking about whatever it was that was bothering her. She let the song weave around her fingers before melodiously being drawn out of the keyboard in front of her. It was all good fun to her.

John had never heard her play the piano before, and hearing her do so sparked the naissance of tears in his eyes. His mother, his oh so sweet mother, had played the piano herself. He remembered seeing her play so emotionally, with so much happiness in her dancing brown eyes. She had smiled at him as he passed by. _"Hello there, son,"_ she would say, _"care to play?"_ He always mentally yelled at himself afterwards. He had lost his ability to learn how to play any musical instrument the day that his father threw acid into his eyes.

John stood behind Isabella timidly, watching her play with a longing burning in his eyes. Isabella glanced at him. "Hello there, John," she said, sounding distracted. "Can you play?"

The almost direct parroting of what John remembered his mother saying sent more tears into his eyes, though they would never fall. "No," he said in a surprisingly hoarse voice. "I never learned how."

Isabella nodded slightly, knowing that he could see the tiny movement. "Well, sit down. I'm going to teach you something." She stood up from the piano bench and gestured for him to sit.

He was frozen standing, staring at her with wide eyes. "Can I learn? Truly?" he challenged, pointing at his unseeing eyes. "I cannot read music, or see where the keys are, Isabella."

"That isn't what you need to play music, John," she shot back. "You need to feel the keys, not see them. You need to hear the music, not see it. I can show you a method to learn music by ear. It is much easier for our kind to do so. Come, I will show you. Sit."

John sat down numbly. Isabella hummed in approval and played one note. The middle C. "Find the key that makes that note, John."

He fumbled around for a bit, playing many keys before finally landing on the correct key. His face lit up, as though he had save the world by playing that one note on the piano. Isabella couldn't help but laugh at his expression and said, "Now, here's a simple rendition of a Classical piece." She plinked out the tune for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You and I both know that that's a nursery rhyme sung to babies," he deadpanned.

"Well, yes, but there's this version too," Isabella said, breaking off into one of Mozart's variations on the theme. After playing for about thirty seconds, she glanced over at John, who suddenly looked much more eager to try learning the simple melody. He began searching for the notes with the right hand, brow furrowed in concentration.

"I'll get you your own piano once you master this one song. Until then, you can use this one."

John's head shot up from its bowed position over the keys. "Seriously?" he asked, looking so much more excited than she had ever seen him.

Isabella couldn't help but give him a smirk. "Where's your wagging tail, little pup? You seem like you're about to piss yourself in excitement."

John grumbled. "First your sister, now you. Why do you siblings love to tease me?"

The only response he got was a quick trill of laughter.

* * *

Days came, suns set, moons rose, and time wore on. The Southern Wars in America were noted, but not acted upon. Day in, day out, the guard did nothing more than observe what was going on around them. At times, guards were sent out to watch from afar. Most of the time, they were kept in the Castle.

It was rare for the patrols to find another vampire, but find one they did. It had been John, Lenna, and Felix who had found the unknown vampire. It was a woman, possibly in her early twenties when turned, with darker toned skin and glowing red eyes. She had seemed controlled, to say the least. She also seemed knowledgeable, so Felix politely invited her back to the Castle in hopes that she could tell Aro of what went on in the world. She politely agreed in order to stay on their good graces. An antagonized Volturi guard was the worst kind of Volturi guard.

Felix and Lenna flanked the new vampire while John stayed behind, transformed into a tiny mouse that scuttled beneath them to ward off notice. The larger vampire glanced down at the rodent, who glared back with amber eyes that seemed to snarl, _Don't even think about cracking any mouse jokes_. Of course, Felix couldn't resist.

"I smell a rat," he muttered to Lenna. The new vampire looked confused, but Lenna just laughed quietly. "Yes, it is a most foul trick, is it not?" she responded. Immediately, John transformed back into a human form and glared at the two other guards.

"I'll appreciate no more jokes, if you please," he grumbled before turning into a bat and flapping away.

"How very stereotypical of him," Felix muttered good-naturedly. The new vampire just decided to accept this odd, almost fun-loving side of the Volturi.

Upon entering the throne room, Aro, Caius, and Marcus looked at the new vampire curiously.

"Felix? Lenna? John? Who is this?" Marcus called out.

They bowed in unison. "Masters, this is Carmen, a nomad we found wandering in the wilds of Canada. We invited her to come back with us for a few days in hopes that she can tell us of what is happening in the world."

Aro nodded to himself before turning to Carmen. "Did you agree to this of your own free will?" he asked.

She nodded in response.

"Very well then. Lenna, if you would please show our guest into a room, that would be much obliged," Caius barked out. The guard in question gave a mocking curtsey, raised an eyebrow at the king, and swept out of the room, Carmen in tow.

"We will talk to her in the morn," Marcus rumbled to the remaining guards. "Go off now. You are dismissed."

* * *

**SO YEAH COOPER IS NOT JASPER AND JUST IN CASE I SLID HIM IN HERE FOR YOU GUYS TO BE CALMED.  
**

**Until next time! VOTE ON THE POLL NOW.**

**~Shriayle**


	35. Hunt: The Pieces Are Set

**This chapter is a bit shorter than the ones I've been writing recently. That's because the arc has finally ended and all the pieces have been set. Next is the arc you all have been waiting for. It's the last arc and by far going to be the longest. It feels weird saying that the story will be ending because, from the looks of things, this story won't end for a couple more months. Thank you all for reading thus far. Last I checked, there were over 50,000 views, 168 favorites, 256 follows, and 212 reviews. I never imagined that this story could garner so much attention, and I'm pretty sure there are many lurkers who don't favorite/follow/review either. And I'm fine with that. It's what I do, after all! So again, thanks for reading _The Life of a Phoenix_. I promise you I have more twists and turns to throw at all of your lovely faces.**

**Onto the story. I think I have finalized Isabella's mate. Who will it be? Well, you'll just have to wait and see! Though IAILA might know xD As I have stated, the HUNT arc has ended with this chapter. Every coven has been started/created, and all of the characters that will be mentioned have been accounted for by the end of this chapter. I do still need OCs for my lower guard (the number is currently at around eight, including many of my OCs as well as other actual guards, and I want about fifteen) as well as song choices. My music tastes are surprisingly bad, so ha.**

**Also. Something I've been meaning to address. Isabella is not Bella. She will never be called Bella, nor would she appreciate being associated with Bella. They only look the same. They are different people all together. If you want to refer to Isabella, please call her Isabella (or Isa if you want to die by Jane's hands). Thank you.**

**REPLIES:**

**buttcheecks16: I've already responded to this, but no. Cooper will not be important at ALL. He was just there to show what Maria's 'type' was and how cruel she can be. And I am not going to comment about Jasper being Isabella's mate anymore.  
**

**Winterlover6 (Guest): Thanks!**

**Alice (Guest): I WANTED TO ANSWER THIS REVIEW THE SECOND I SAW IT BUT I WAS ONLY LIKE 500 WORDS INTO THIS CHAPTER AHH. GET AN ACCOUNT SO I MAY PM YOU :/ Anyhow, yes, Maria is a creepy little rapist darling. I hate her with a burning passion. Also you are as psychic as the character whose name you have borrowed, for Carmen and Eleazar do indeed get together in this chapter. It's not too much of a spoiler is it? ;) I am not going to say if Jasper is confirmed Isabella's mate or not, but he will have as large a part of the story as, say, Alice did in the original series. But he's not going to act like Alice at all. I have a faint idea about who Jasper will end up with as well, but we'll have to see. Isabella might have a very unconventional mate, to the point where no one has guessed who yet, but it is still not for anyone to know quite yet :3 I won't ever put it in the actual story description either, for the suspense of future readers. John was supposed to be a foil for the 'serious business Volturi' idea because pranks are cool, no matter how evil they can get. To answer your question, the id is the part of the subconscious that controls primal desires. It's Freud, I think. But basically it is everything you want but don't want to be, i.e. lust, greed. That's my interpretation, and that's the interpretation for this story. I don't have a beta, actually. I just started writing this story because why not, then just kept at it. I do edit it by rereading and adding additional details/changing typos, but that's about it. I still do slip through a lot of cracks, though, so it's not all that successful of an editing job, but eh. And replying is second nature for me :)**

**Guest: Well, I'm not going to say anything about Jasper/Isabella until it is or isn't confirmed in the story. He will be important, as I've stated above.  
**

**Arabella Whitlock: ;)**

**I am in Loki's Army: Sir Whitlock is a fine gentleman indeed.**

**YunaNeko: THANK YOU! HERE YOU GO~**

**death2luv (Guest): Ugh no. I hate Jacob, Paul, and the rest of the wolves. They don't seem planned out at all. They're just guys on constant hormones. Though Leah and Seth, I can deal with. They're cool.**

** .Executioner: Jane would approve of your username. I'm still tight-lipped about the mate, though.**

**JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW: I HAVE CHOSEN A MATE (finally). THEREFORE, DON'T COMMENT ABOUT 'Will Jasper be Isabella's mate?" BECAUSE FROM HERE ON OUT, I AM NOT GOING TO RESPOND TO THOSE. You have been warned.**

* * *

The new woman seemed more curious of the Castle than Lenna herself had been. Lenna sensed a kindred spirit of sorts; the woman, Carmen she called herself, had been following an urge for years, one that led her through Spain and through into the heart of Italy.

_ Coincidence? Perhaps_.

The woman wandered around the Castle, staring at the paintings and tapestries with awe. Upon finding the memory room, she sat and painted all that she remembered. When Isabella walked in on her, she was finishing the last touches on a portrait of three blonde girls smiling and laughing in a snowy landscape.

Isabella was at her side in a second, staring over her shoulder. "Excuse me, who are those women?" she asked, praying under her breath that her eyes were deceiving her.

Carmen looked up at her, blinked, and promptly responded (_Good girl, playing along for the Guard_), "Why, they're part of the coven I left before coming here. There are three girls. Tanya" (she gestured at one girl with hair that glistened golden red in the light) "Irina," (platinum blonde, eyes that must have been blue or silver or some equally piercing shade that now danced light red as she grinned out of the painting) "and Kate" (the final girl, with golden locks and a mouth wide open in frozen laughter). Carmen looked at the older guard timidly. "Do you know them?"

"Yes," Isabella said distractedly. She tugged on Carmen's sleeve slightly, prompting the sitting vampire to stand up, before grabbing the pencil sketch and pulling Carmen into the throne room.

Caius was the only one in the room. _Unlucky, unlucky, that the most violent of the bunch is there to mete out your punishments_. Isabella stormed up to him and shoved the picture in his face. "Look at this, sir," she muttered, watching Carmen carefully (the toned vampire was confused and not more than a little uncomfortable at her reaction).

The king merely took the picture out of his guard's hand and studied it carefully. His eyes shot open and he stared at the picture more intensely before glaring at the new vampire. "Where did you meet these three?" he snarled, his eyes glowing from rage.

Carmen began to think she made a horrid mistake in drawing them. She stared at the offending paper, not understanding why they hated it so much. "I-in America. Alaska. The state next to Canada. They were in Denali," she managed to say, her fear overtaking her.

Caius and Isabella both sighed and relaxed. "That's a relief. Isabella, thank you for this, but we don't need it, as you can see."

Isabella nodded and directed Carmen out of the throne room. "I'm sorry about that outburst," she said with an apologetic glance. Carmen's nod indicated her acceptance, and the quirk of her head indicated her continual confusion. "What is so wrong about those three? They seemed so accepting, and they never even think about breaking the laws."

"It's a long story, but they promised that they would never return to the snow-covered lands that their sire perished in. I saw them in snow and, how shall I put it, lost all of my sense."

Carmen gave a sad smile. "They would never even think of coming to Europe. It's why I came alone. I planned to come with them, let them relax while I searched, but to no avail. They are content staying in Alaska."

Isabella chuckled darkly. "Hopefully, it will remain that way. Aro is nowhere near as understanding as Caius."

"Master Caius, understanding?"

"My point exactly." Isabella glided away, leaving a nervous Carmen behind.

* * *

Carmen's pull ended up leading her to Eleazar, who accepted her as his mate and asked for permission from Aro to leave and go with Carmen to rejoin the three sisters. Aro saw no reason to prevent his departure and Eleazar left with a warmer goodbye than Carlisle ever did.

Isabella watched them walk away, arms intertwined. She had watched Eleazar fall for Carmen immediately and Carmen fall for Eleazar. She watched them awkwardly work their way about each other, not knowing that the other felt the same way, not daring to be the one to start the courtship. Finally, Jane had had enough and practically threatened Eleazar to talk to Carmen or _so help me God, I will make you feel the physical discomfort of learning you aren't pregnant every month_. How Jane knew of these things Isabella had no idea, as the twins had only just entered puberty when they had been changed, but it was a very effective threat as Eleazar immediately approached Carmen like a gentleman and pretty much wooed her with a single conversation. Carmen had already been head over heels for Eleazar, and that single conversation had triggered a willingness to talk to him and allow herself to be wooed.

Isabella was happy for her friends. She didn't know when Carmen became such a presence in her life, but the visitor had greeted everyone warmly to the point where the guard finally gave up trying to deter her. Instead, they welcomed her, showing the more familial side of the Volturi that Carmen suspected was there but that they never showed to outsiders. While Jane, Alec, and Isabella still remained aloof, Chelsea, Corin, and Heidi had welcomed Carmen as an honorary sister. Felix continuously teased and congratulated a very embarrassed Eleazar almost constantly after finding out that the two had mated for the first time.

But now, that time with Eleazar and Carmen was drawing to a close as the mated pair decided to travel back to America and rejoin the three sisters in Denali. Aro had given the two his blessing and a warning: whatever you do, if you meet Carlisle Cullen, listen to whatever he tells you with a grain of salt. The two had heard the stories about how the Cullen wanted to tear the Volturi apart with his more 'humane' lifestyle, letting the rich, fat criminals live while the poor starved for want of meat. They understood the reason behind his warning, thanked him for all that he did for them, and left, hand in hand.

And now the walls of the Castle became a bit more rambunctious, without Carmen's warm but warning aura and Eleazar's quiet presence. John's escapades became more daring and infinitely more annoying. Jane and Alec threw themselves into their music more intensely, perfecting their duets whenever Isabella wasn't around and forcing her to join their little ensemble when she was. Felix had even dared to get closer to John and now occasionally joined in the terrorizing. Heidi had found herself on the back end of many pranks ever since they had begun working together, but she didn't really do much besides roll her eyes.

All in all, life went on in Volturi Castle, all without more than the tiniest blip that Eleazar and Carmen's presences were in the story of the eldest vampires.

* * *

"Look out!"

A young man in army khakis threw himself at his much older comrade, forcing him to the ground as bullets rained overhead. The older man's eyes widened as he saw how many flew at him. Almost all of the fighters must have seen them and aimed directly at him.

The young man glanced at him again. His hair was straggly and honey blond, most of it held back by a small leather in a ponytail but the rest falling all over his face and directly in front of his light grey, almost white colored eyes. "Are you okay?" the man hissed, looking at his soldier worriedly. He had heard the gunfire, but didn't see any wounds. Good. He needed his men as intact as possible for his next maneuver. He had heard tales of how the Union planned to attack the waterways of Sabine Pass, and he hoped to God that he could somehow defeat them when (and he had a feeling it was _when_) the Yankees would come onto shore.

"Yessir, Major," the man responded with a low whisper. "I thank ye for savin' me just now, sir. I'm obliged to help yer ventures into anythin' now, sir, and I will do so until my final breaths."

The young man's lips quirked up into a crazed smirk. His eyes darted between the older man's and the battlefield. "Well then, soldier, you're going to help me destroy these Yankees, aren't you?" His smooth words sent a shiver down the soldier's back and a wave of gleeful anticipation straight to his heart.

"That sounds 'bout right, Major," he responded with a dark chuckle.

The Major gave him the same smirk from earlier before grabbing his gun, quietly checking for ammunition, and promptly putting it on his shoulder and shooting it in the direction of the fire. Bullets flew over their heads again.

"Well then, the plan is to anger the hell out of them and then beat it out of them. Leave any bodies for others to find. Make sure the others know; I'm going to go forward a bit more." The Major watched his man sneak back to the friendly side before he silently streaked into the crossfire and drew the opposing side's fire. Shouting suddenly, he danced from foot to foot as he sprinted to the other side of the field, watching his men get up and shoot every last enemy to death. His heart swelled with pride. He loved his small subset of the army. Yes, it was dangerous to love a man's cohort like brothers, but they had been going through the hell for two, nearly three years now. He was nineteen now, and he would still lay down his life for his country. Freedom was worth it.

But was it worth getting thrown down by a woman with slightly shimmering skin, a woman with blond hair as light colored as snow that framed her angelic face, which was painted with a demonic smile. With devil's eyes, for how could a human be born with red irises? What a paradox, life is.

Her eyes raked his body up and down. The Major knew better than to get up or to alert her of anything. He just lay and stared straight up at her.

"Come with me, boy," the lady suddenly said. Hearing the command and implied threat, the Major dutifully got up and followed.

She led him to a group of people. But were they really? Everyone seemed to glow in the light of day, and most looked lost, fragmented, forgotten. They wore nothing more than rags for the most part, but a few were dressed in scandalously little; one, a dirty-blond boy, had a strap of leather tied around his waist, a choker with an ostantatiously styled 'M' carved into obsidian, a cowboy's hat, and a pair of black leather boots. His eyes were red as well, and he walked up to the woman with the Major with a simultaneously meek and confident air.

"Mistress Nettie, you have returned," he whispered out, his eyes darting from her eyes to his feet. His head was slightly bowed, which was odd as he was a good nine inches taller than she. The woman, Nettie it seemed, merely gave a feral grin and took an additional step towards the boy. She trailed a finger up his abdomen and played with the choker. She gave a little pout. "It's too bad that Maria's gone and made you hers for the week. I can think of so many games I want to play with you for now."

The boy looked resigned, dull now. He glanced at the newcomer and scrutinized him. "Is this another one of your _recruits_? Or is it another one of us _toys_?" he spat out, suddenly growing resolve, glaring at her.

She took her hand and carefully, tenderly, pinched his lips together and dug her nails in to keep them shut. She then leaned up and seemed to bite them closed amid howls of pain from the boy. She then tore her teeth out, leaving a jagged cut that bled clear fluids. The boy whimpered now, putting his lip back together in a deformed fashion.

"Careful now, Cooper," she sneered, watching him struggle. "We call the shots around here. You're just a toy that Maria dragged in off the streets. You'll never be one of us."

Cooper mumbled an apology before looking at the Major desperately. _Run now_, he wanted to scream. _Run before you're kept for all eternity!_

The Major didn't register his silent pleas and just followed Nettie on. They passed others; women with pasties and strings on next to women with camouflage clothing that covered up anything and everything sensual. Finally, Nettie led him into a canvas tent that held two other women, one blonde much taller than the brunette, who lounged on the ground. The shorter woman appraised the Major's body as if it were a commodity. In fact, seeing the horrible conditions outside, he was sure that he was a commodity. Damn his Southern hospitality and inability to tell a woman 'no' for getting him into this. He could have laughed, walked away in confidence, even run if he were too unlucky.

Too bad that he didn't know any attempt to escape would have been futile, no?

The shorter one seemed to purr in appreciation and got up, gesturing for the blonde to stay seated and for the white blonde, Nettie, to join her. She approached him slowly, brown hair dancing about her shoulders as her red eyes pierced his soul.

"What's your name?"

"Major Jasper Whitlock, ma'am." The formality had slipped out.

She nodded again.

"If you want him, you'll have to do it," the white blonde called out from where she seemed to be grooming the other woman. "We can't control ourselves after the initial."

The shorter woman nodded and fixated her gaze on the part in Jasper's neck where the vein pumped its vital fluids enthusiastically.

"This should only hurt a little," she said, her eyes laughing as though she had just told the funniest joke ever. She then leaned forward suddenly and pierced his neck with her teeth. He screeched in agony. She didn't care. She let his body flop about like a fish, watching the transformation coldly and disinterestedly.

* * *

_The battle that Major Jasper T. Whitlock was reported missing in was known in history books thereafter as the First Battle of Sabine Pass. As his plan had been hidden from his regiment in hopes of minimizing any potential spying amongst them, the entire regiment had no idea what the plan would be. True to their major's final orders, they fought like hell, but it proved to be too little. The First Battle of Sabine Pass ended with casualties on both sides, the wiping out of an entire team of soldiers, and a major that was then lost in the sands of time._

* * *

Isabella was back in her homeland. It was weird.

She hadn't expected England to change so much, though in her heart she knew it would. The changes in Italy couldn't compare to the roaring differences in the British lands; factories churned out products and thick black smoke in equal quantities, and people's qualities of life were going up while their quality of food and water were going down. She had wandered into the verdant hills of Ireland with Lenna and Renata at her side. It was the first time in a while that Demetri's sister had been forced with her, and Isabella wasn't really sure what to expect.

It turned out that Lenna had calmed herself quite a bit. She was much more down-to-earth and sarcastic than she had initially seemed because she was excited to see her brother again. Isabella could relate. Renata really couldn't, though she supposed if she were searching for her uncle Luca again than she would be just as thrilled to find him.

With Lenna much calmer, it was easier to have a normal conversation with her. It turned out that her mind, much like Demetri's, was deep in the gutter, and anything that sounded like it had the slightest of double-entendres stood out to her like a vampire amongst humans. Isabella watched the two banter back and forth, Renata attempting to say things and Lenna teasingly cringing at their alternate meaning.

"What I'm saying is that the tree was just sticking up all by itself!"

"That's exactly what you said about the 'long object racing into a tunnel', Renata."

"I know what it's called now, thank you very much! It's just a cargo ship-thing going under a bridge!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Oh my God, you make things so hard sometimes, Lenna!"

"I'll give you a moment to think about what you just said."

"Will you two quiet down?"

The younger vampires immediately hushed at Isabella's soft barb. She didn't embrace their conversation as willingly as they did, and when she said to stop talking, the Lord knew that you _stopped talking_.

Isabella cocked her head in one direction before relaxing and crossing her arms. "Siobhan!" she called.

An intense whispering, a chorus of hushed talking, seemed to explode around the three. Cautiously, a woman stepped out, raven-black hair whipping in the wind, her red eyes glittering intelligently. Her arm was wrapped around the shoulders of a fiery-haired girl who appeared no older than Jane or Renata.

The woman relaxed upon seeing Isabella standing with her limbs loose. "Isabella!" she called back, her expression sliding into a smile as she saw the mahogany-haired vampire. Renata recognized the older woman but not the girl. Obviously, Lenna didn't know them at all.

"Siobhan, while I would love to take a few days to catch up with you with what has happened during the last two hundred years or so, I'm afraid my fellow guards and I are here on actual business," Isabella said with a shrug, her arms still wrapped around her. She watched her once-friend-now-more-of-a-friendly-acquaintance glance down at the girl in her arms. The girl stared at the three guards before nodding to Siobhan. "She speaks the truth, Siobhan."

Isabella was rather impressed with the gift. "Who is this, Siobhan?" she asked, amusement gracing her tone. "A newborn you have taken in again?"

Siobhan seemed to tense up ever so slightly. "This is Margaret," she said quietly. The girl shrugged the woman's protective arm off to stand to the side, so confident she was that she was safe. "I changed her after she showed talent a couple of decades ago. She is no threat, I swear. Her only gift is detecting lies. Please, Isabella, don't take her away."

Isabella looked at the beseeching woman, looked into her eyes, and relented. "I will have to tell Aro to put in our records, Siobhan," she said, "but I will ask him to not come and see for himself. You and Liam deserve your secrets."

"Speaking of which, where is Liam? I never saw him without you ever," Renata piped up. Margaret whipped her head to stare at Renata for a couple of seconds before nodding to herself in satisfaction.

"There are no ulterior motives in her, as well," the redhead declared happily. Siobhan smiled at her charge's happy-go-lucky attitude.

"My mate is off hunting. He knows that too many scare off the prey," Siobhan said quietly. "He should be back soon."

"I am back," a voice with a slight brogue broke in. The vampires all looked to see a dark-haired man with a sturdy body approach Siobhan to hold her from the back and place a lingering kiss on her cheek. Margaret imitated gagging off to the side and pretended to stick her finger down her throat.

"Aye, Maggie," Liam bellowed, "don't be an arse now."

The newly-nicknamed Maggie just rolled her eyes at him and gave him a scathing look. "I already know of your nighttime pursuits, must I know about your daytime ones as well?"

"Not around Lenna," Renata grumbled while Lenna chortled to herself.

"And with that, I will take my perverted guards away from here," Isabella said, shaking her head. Siobhan chuckled at their antics.

"Fairfarren, guards," she called as the three females bowed and left.

* * *

In a farther country, a girl's eyes grew glassy as she ran from that which she didn't know. All she knew what that she instinctively sensed danger, danger that she would soon have to outrun with another's help. Another male studied his art of medicine fervently, hoping for the day that he could control himself and finally give back to the community the way he promised to so long ago. Soon their paths would intertwine, but not yet. Time watched her little figures, the ones that remained or would remain constant, with a shrewd gaze, and she made sure that they all had the tools they needed to succeed. But she knew that some would succeed at things they didn't want to. She knew that some had motives that clashed with others. And she would watch gleefully, not stopping anything. Nothing can stop time, after all, not even herself.

* * *

Isabella could smell the air as she raced through Europe back to her home in the Castle.

The winds smelled... different. More sweet, but strident. It was mixed with the scent of something dirty.

Something was coming to the world. She wasn't sure if she was looking forward to it

* * *

**VOTE ON THE POLL! YOU'VE GOT A MONTH.  
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**I hope you guys had a nice Samhain/All Hallow's Even/Halloween/Free Candy Day! Here's my treat for you, hopefully John won't give you the trick. ~Shriayle**


	36. Syzygy: Toll of a Bell

**Welcome to the final arc of _The Life of a Phoenix_. After this, the story will be finished. Don't worry; that time won't come for a while yet, and I have a few more surprises planned for you lovely readers. **

**I don't really have much to say, but I have been slowly working on my NaNoWriMo project this year. I plan on writing it alongside TLoaP, as I only really write like 2000 words for that every day and it takes me about three days to complete chapters here. Chapters may come out more slowly, though.**

**I have introduced new characters here. One was made by I am in Loki's Army (it's like the third one, it seems) and the other was made by me, in revelation order. As in, the first new one was hers and the second one mine. I am still in need of a few more OCs, though. If you want to send yours in, PM me and I'll give you a quick form so I can get all the details I need.  
**

**REPLIES:**

**death2luv: Haha, thanks! Although if you're doing important things, I suggest doing those before reading. It's nice to have an incentive, right? :D**

**MoonPrincess23: It's not bad, but I'm hoping people will keep an open mind about the story. Also, the pairs I have written in here are NOT my main 'OTPs', except maybe the Jane/Demetri and Alec/Renata. And the kings/queens. But the rest? Not so much.**

**Alice (Guest): You are indeed :) If you don't feel like logging in, I have no qualms about waiting to reply to you. Do what you want. Also, sorry about the name thing; as many of the people I see have gone and named themselves after their favorite characters, I assumed you did as well, though I know that assuming makes an ass out of u and me. The Irish are rather important, yes; I just really liked their characters from the books. And the real John did in fact prank me on that day by telling me he was moving out of the country -_- I refuse to give details as to how he convinced me of that.**

**Arabella Whitlock: Well, this chapter is much longer. It makes up for it, I believe.**

**IAILA: I can count on more than two hands' worth of fingers how many times Meyer seems to do that. The author of _Long, Long, Long_ (a nongraphic M rated fic) has devoted about a thousand words to each chapter to systematically take down Meyer's perspective on certain issues and the scientific improbabilities etc. I find it rather amusing to read even just those.**

**YunaNeko: THANK YOU!**

** .Executioner: It seems that I can't put your entire username here. That's unfortunate. But yes, new chapter yay.**

**deathluv (Guest): ;) you'll seeeeeee**

**Ghostwriter71: :/ Heh, my original idea was that Isabella wasn't going to be mated period, as she has the maternal-ish/sibling bond. But I realized that it didn't really make sense since Jane and Alec both have the sibling bond yet also have mates. Also the entire Twilight fandom area-thing seems to be obsessed with mates, so I might as well dabble in it as well.**

**A COUPLE FINAL NOTES: I have incorporated large quotes from certain novels, as well as referencing others. So, I do not own _The Jungle_ (Upton Sinclair), _Pride and Prejudice_ (Jane Austen), _The Wizar__d of Oz_ (L. Frank Baum), or _White Fang_ (Jack London). I have read all except for the first, though.**

* * *

Isabella couldn't understand humans or the extraordinarily loud fuss they made over certain days that they deemed 'special.' These days seemed to differ for each country, even each city (nowhere else was Saint Marcus celebrated), yet one was most prevalent. And it involved counting down seconds in order to see when the next year began? The years all ended up the same, anyhow; they promised to get more exercise, they tried to uphold their promises, they bemoaned their lack of time, they never got what they wanted, they promised to try again. _Humans, so predictable._

And now they had a giant ball falling to mark that tradition? What the hell?

Then again, this was America they spoke of. Those odd rebels were seemingly insane, from separating with the mother country to battling itself over the color of their skins. She had no idea how to even begin thinking of their idiosyncrasies outside of "strange." Maybe that was why she wasn't able to stay in touch with outside society the way that Jane seemed to.

Her sister had an affinity to the changing times. Jane was enthralled by the creation of factories, the beginning of industrialization, the naissance of 'modern society', although she was less than thrilled by the destruction of the natural universe that she had noticed forming. Alec wasn't as out of touch as Isabella or as in touch with Jane.

Yet Isabella did stay in touch with the world in one way: through her music. She followed the composers and their lifetimes, from Bach to Chopin to (now) Debussy. She watched them live and die and followed their compositions, learning almost everything that she could play on her piano. The piano had aged with grace, and by the time she had decided to get a new one, it was almost perfectly mellowed out, each key sounding obediently resonantly at the slightest vampiric touch. Now, she had a beautifully designed piano: it was a grand piano, again, the color of the blackest cloak of the kings, with a carefully carved inlay that was then filled with ivory and gold to create a swirling pattern of fleur-de-lis and spirals that cascaded down the piano's side and onto its legs like artistic vines. She didn't know what it was about the design, but it soothed her. She liked it. And John was happy to have his own instrument. It was an ultimate win-win situation.

The past few decades had been exciting for Volterra. Two more vampires had joined the lower guard. One was from Germany. She was female, with golden-brown hair and previously dancing green eyes. She had a quick mind, but she was more well-known as a street urchin that no one could catch. Every owner of the market stalls knew her name, as her tale had spread far. She would race up, grab one insignificant item each from three stalls, and bolt before being noticed. Finally, the owners had come up with a plan to capture the girl in a net, but she had raced away with the thin wire wrapped around a foot. That was where Jane found her while apathetically hunting, sobbing, a single loaf of bread clutched in her hands as she struggled to remove the razor-sharp strand with cut, already bleeding hands.

The blood that coated her hands hadn't set Jane off, as Alec's gift was still set on her throat, but she felt almost sorry for the girl. Maybe Jane saw herself in this girl, maybe she just felt empathy, but she picked the girl up carefully and darted back to Italy, her original purpose completely forgotten. Like many others, she didn't trust herself, but she trusted Aro to know what to do.

Aro had taken one look at the mangled leg and knew that she would never be able to outspeed her would-be captors again. She wouldn't be able to run as fast as a mortal ever again. So when the girl was finally told everything and had her questions answered, she agreed to turn into an immortal being.

She would have been sixteen. She accepted the new diet, the new eyes, the new body, which had sparkling, clear venom flowing through her veins and easily visible through her already-translucent skin. She introduced herself as Lilianna and draped the storm-gray cloak around her shoulders, joining Lenna, Afton, and John in the lower guard. Her already abnormal speed had been emphasized by the transformation, as she had thought of running from the burning; now she travelled at supersonic speeds, always followed by sonic booms wherever she ran. Aro was pleased by her addition and she joined without Chelsea's prodding.

The other guard was from the other side of the world, from South Korea. He had been found as a minstrel whose song was so enchanting that all would rather listen than do their actual job. He was a young adult, apparently, and he travelled around his small peninsula to give his music to the towns. He could even convince others to do as he commanded through his voice. Yet, others were so jealous of his beautiful song and plotted to murder him. He had panicked and used his gift to drive a man away, leading to an attempted murder. Caius had been travelling around the area to find one of his old acquaintances and had found the well-known musician in a forest outside of Seoul, throat slashed only moments before, his life slowly ebbing. Caius felt his desperation and anger at being stolen away; he wanted to live, in any way possible. Therefore, the king had acted to quickly bite the man and turn him into a vampire. He had sensed a potential, though his intuition was nowhere near as strong as Eleazar's.

Aro was most interested by his gift. After being subjected to a brutal almost-murder, he was then thrust into the everlasting flames of transformation. Or the seemingly everlasting, unless the thirst was accounted for. Either way, he had focused on his singing, singing himself past the pain, past the torture. He had sung himself to sleep and reawakening. Now, his song had been amplified and altered by the metamorphosis, turning into a weapon he could force another to listen to and become transfixed by. He could sing a song so compelling that others needed to stay and listen to it, paying no mind to any of their surroundings, and whatever he sang, they would attempt to do.

He awoke to Caius's waiting form. The king had told him about vampires, about the Volturi and its duty, about his now duty to the government. The man said that he was called Daehyun in his country but Damian in the western lands. They returned to Italy, where he learned to harness his 'Song of Death,' or _canto di morte_ as the kings referred to it.

The guard was expanding as it hadn't before, and Isabella wasn't sure what to make of it. She knew that it meant something was coming, that fate wouldn't prepare them if that wasn't so. She just wasn't sure how or why.

Jane had warmed up to Lilianna, and Alec had warmed up to Damian. The genders had drifted together slightly. Damian showed the same affinity for sarcasm and witty remarks. Lilianna displayed a preference for card games and strategic maneuvers. Isabella just watched the friendships grow, but she couldn't get herself to welcome the two as freely.

After all, who was to worry for the twins if she lowered her guard?

* * *

The humans started a war, the stupid, wretched things. It had all started when a leader of a small country with big friends was shot and killed by an assassin. Then the countries slowly declared war on one another, separating into two sides and rending Europe in half over the skirmishes. Farmland was turned to waste as trenches were dug, guns were set up, and people were mowed down to the endless sleep.

Volterra had been approached by the Italian government, pleading the vampires to come and help their country fight and win against these other countries. Aro had politely declined, knowing the bloodshed would ruin everything that Volterra stood for, that too many self-controls would be tested, that too many would have to be killed for revealing the secret.

The war came, and as it left the Americans came to steal off with some glory and some disease. They returned and a new outbreak began among the mortals. Spanish influenza, they called it.

Many were stricked by it. In Chicago, there was an entire family changed by it. For certain, many others were completely wiped out, or their children succumbed. But this one family, the father died after returning home from the Great War (the blessed fool, gone to get _kleos_), the mother was dying, and the son was being born. He was bathed in flames for three days and two nights until he awoke again, opening red eyes instead of green. Rather than the relief that other newborns felt, he was filled with despair. Though his father could burn in Hell for all he cared, his mother, his poor mother, had gone. She left him behind on this disgusting Earth to linger forever without joining her. The doctor tried to explain how that had been her last wish. He selfishly wished that she wanted him to follow her. He knew in his heart that she couldn't have let go without knowing that he would live. He couldn't bring himself to hate her, even after she condemned him to life without her.

If only the boy had died before the doctor had known him, maybe this story would be different. Perhaps Isabella would have been happier, perhaps she would have been sadder. What matters most about this tale is that Isabella _felt_, that she didn't feel completely isolated from society. She became more perceptive after the epidemic. For the first time, she panicked that she couldn't care for the twins. She prayed to God that she would be able to.

* * *

Isabella sighed from her place in her room. Once so barren, it was now filled with bookshelves of history's epic poems and similar adventures. She stared at the leather spines before walking over and running her finger down them, reading their inlaid titles in a cursory manner. She stopped at one and took it out of its place.

_ The Jungle_, it said. She opened the book to see the first few lines, just to refresh her memory.

._It was four o'clock when the ceremony was over and the carriages began to arrive. There had been a crowd following all the way, owing to the exuberance of Marija Berczynskas. The occasion rested heavily upon Marija's broad shoulders-it was her task to see that all things went in due form, and after the best home traditions; and, flying wildly hither and thither, bowling every one out of the way, and scolding and exhorting all day with her tremendous voice, Marija was too eager to see that others conformed to the proprieties to consider them herself. She had left the church last of all, and, desiring to arrive first at the hall, had issued orders to the coachman to drive faster..._

Isabella impatiently flipped through the pages, not wanting to read the rather heady beginning and trying to find a more interesting scene.

..._For an hour or so he walked thus, and then he began to look about him. He seemed to be leaving the city altogether. The street was turning into a country road, leading out to the westward; there were snow-covered fields on either side of him. Soon he met a farmer driving a two-horse_ _wagon loaded with straw, and he stopped him._ _"Is this the way to the stockyards?" he asked._ _The farmer scratched his head. "I dunno jest where they be," he said. "But they're in the city somewhere, and you're going dead away from it now."_ _Jurgis looked dazed. "I was told this was the way," he said._ _"Who told you?"_ _"A boy."_ _"Well, mebbe he was playing a joke on ye. The best thing ye kin do is to go back, and when ye git into town ask a policeman. I'd take ye in, only I've come a long ways an' I'm loaded heavy. Git up!"_ _So Jurgis turned and followed, and toward the end of the morning he began to see Chicago again. Past endless blocks of two-story shanties he walked, along wooden sidewalks and unpaved pathways treacherous with deep slush holes. Every few blocks there would be a railroad crossing on the level with the sidewalk, a deathtrap for the unwary; long freight trains would be passing, the cars clanking and crashing together, and Jurgis would pace about waiting, burning up with a fever of impatience..._

Isabella sighed to herself and closed the book, forcing it back into its now narrowed place on the shelf. Running her finger along the spines again, she selected another at random and opened it to see what treasures it held.

_Pride and Prejudice_, the title page stated. The ink was still as black and bold as ever, though the pages of the book were yellowing as it aged gracefully. Isabella remembered reading the book and feeling unnaturally compelled by the words it held. She opened to a random page to glance at the text this time.

_...In this perturbed state of mind, with thoughts that could rest on nothing, she walked on; but it would not do; in half a minute the letter was unfolded again, and collecting herself as well as she could, she again began the mortifying perusal of all that related to Wickham, and commanded herself so far as to examine the meaning of every sentence. The account of his connection with the Pemberley family was exactly what he had related himself; and the kindness of the late Mr. Darcy, though she had not before known its extent, agreed equally well with his own words. So far each recital confirmed the other; but when she came to the will, the difference was great. What Wickham had said of the living was fresh in her memory, and as she recalled his very words, it was impossible not to feel that there was gross duplicity on one side or the other; and, for a few moments, she flattered herself that her wishes did not err. But when she read and re-read with the closest attention, the particulars immediately following of Wickham's resigning all pretensions to the living, of his receiving in lieu so considerable a sum as three thousand pounds, again was she forced to hesitate. She put down the letter, weighed every circumstance with what she meant to be impartiality—deliberated on the probability of each statement—but with little success. On both sides it was only assertion. Again she read on; but every line proved more clearly that the affair, which she had believed it impossible that any contrivance could so represent as to render Mr. Darcy's conduct in it less than infamous, was capable of a turn which must make him entirely blameless throughout the whole..._

Isabella groaned to herself and practically threw the book back into its place. She didn't want to read about humans and their so-called "beautiful romances" while everything was settling. She had originally liked this novel for the dysfunctional relationship between the sisters (God knew that she felt that way sometimes about her own siblings) but now all that stood out to her was the blooming love between Darcy and Elizabeth. And it sickened her, frankly. She didn't care for this stupid _love_ and _romance_ and _soul mate_ bullshit. All she wanted in life were her siblings to be happy.

The vampire looked at her collection again. For certain, it had other stories as well, stories of colorful walkways leading to splendid cities, or stories of a loyalty kindled that led to a willing sacrifice for another. Yet, those stories were missing things, as well. They didn't capture the essence of a soul, the beauty of the shadows of the leaves dappling the ground as one saw every single minute particle drift through the haze of the sunlight. It never described the way that the moonlight's silver light pierced the sky in a visible ray, much less noticeable than the rays of the sun but visible to those keen-eyed enough to spot it.

Then again, the writers of these novels were more likely than not human. They didn't see the wonders of the world they described in their everlasting words.

Isabella picked a new book (_Divina Commedia_, in its original Italian) and finally settled herself into the chair that she placed in front of a mock fireplace. She gingerly opened up the paper (this one golden with age) and began reading the Italian, which flowed through her brain more easily than the English novels she had attempted to read. She read of the rings of Hell, of Purgatory, of Heaven. And she felt peace.

* * *

Jasper Whitlock awoke with crimson eyes and a thirst so powerful, he tore through the still-warm cadavers from the war. The blood wasn't fresh, but he yearned for it so. Maria watched him, a grotesque pleasure shaping her features.

Once he got himself under control, Maria began instructing him on his tasks. He was to make sure the other newborns didn't get too far ahead of themselves, and when it came time, he was to destroy them. The newborn order didn't carry through to the "toys" as she called some of them. They were to be terminated as soon as their use ran out.

After his own newborn year ended with many casualties and tearing his companions to pieces or being torn himself, he arose covered in scars from bites and scars from reattachments. Maria still approved, grooming him as her second-in-command.

Jasper learned of how she ran her company. She was a taskmaster and a very strategic creator. Some soldiers were chosen for their position in the human war, others for their hidden strengths, which Maria had an innate gift of sensing. Others were taken from others' armies (for there were many other armies in this brutal war they were in over territory and prey) and retrained by Jasper himself.

The toys were another topic altogether. They were chosen for their meekness and ease of being tamed. Or maybe they were chosen for their charm and good looks, and how they knew how to extol their virtues. In any case, the toys existed for the soldiers to ease their suffering. Many toys were created with the hopes that a soldier would claim one for the year of vampiric life they were given, and the toys would circulate back into the cycle when the soldier was systemically killed. If a toy took too long being chosen, they were sent to be torn apart again.

Sometimes, a toy caught the eye of the leaders. Cooper, that first man that Jasper saw, had caught Maria's attention, so she kept him around as her own. Many other toys she had as well, women as well as men. Jasper was recruited as one of them, but he didn't really allow any more than the occasional heated kiss. He learned about his skill of emotion manipulation when she forced herself onto him. He had somehow managed to repel her that day. His rudimentary grasp over the gift impressed Maria, and she promoted him after they destroyed Nettie and the other. They had apparently been mates, though they had toys of their own. Jasper had seen the two females force a male toy to pleasure the two of them at once, and they had left him shivering and broken, his pride destroyed by their eager hands and their ready bodies. They had once had an odd sort of love, a love for each other's bodies and a lust for each other's scents, but he hadn't really seen it as a different love than the soldiers had for their toys. He didn't really understand the mating bonds himself. Maria tried to persuade him that she was his mate, though he knew her feelings weren't as undiluted as the two female generals' had been before he tore their arms off and turned them to firewood.

Jasper had just been staring into a river as it rushed by as he thought, his red eyes glinting with undisclosed emotions. He had been so focused that he didn't notice when another walked up behind him. He didn't hear the man clear his throat, nor did he notice the slight nudge the man gave him. Finally, the other vampire settled himself next to Jasper and the major finally noticed, glancing over to see who it was.

It was the beloved toy, Cooper. His dirty blond hair was matted with dirt and branches, as though Maria had jumped him in the forest and forced herself onto him then and there. Jasper wouldn't be surprised if she did.

"Pardon me," Cooper mumbled, his voice not getting any higher than a raspy whisper, "but I'd like to bathe in the river. If you don't mind."

Jasper looked the man up and down. He wasn't even a man, really; he was forced to age because of the war, it seemed. His hair had stayed at its transformation-length, though that was long to begin with, nearly reaching his shoulders. His limbs held a strength that Jasper didn't really think would last so long. The cloth he usually wore around his waist was almost completely shredded, and only one scrap remained for him to retain his decency. He had a well-sculpted chest and could very easily have been a soldier. He had taken his boots off and held them with one hand in his lap. Jasper noticed that one of the boots' heels was actually pressing into the other vampire's crotch, but Cooper didn't really seem to notice. His hat wasn't on his head, but had been pushed off and was now dangling around his neck on a tied piece of string, making the hat seem more like a woman's bonnet. Jasper finally glanced at his eyes; burgundy, but glazed over. He was a broken man. Just the way Maria liked her little harem to be.

"We are both men," Jasper finally responded, glancing out at the river again, "and anything that you would want to hide, I have probably already seen."

Cooper winced at this. He seemed to shake now.

"If you don't mine, major, I'd really like some privacy right now," he said again, carefully.

Jasper gave him a confused look. "If it's your hair you need to wash out, just jump in the river, man," he responded. It was another unspoken rule to not call the toys by their name. Similarly, the soldiers were referred to by the toys by their ranks.

Jasper felt a wave of despair hit him. It was Cooper's, it seemed, though his facial expression was still completely blank. And there was another emotion. Physical pain?

Cooper took a deep breath (steeling his resolve, for why would the major care?) and gingerly slid into the water. Jasper noticed a slight red tint as the vampire submerged himself. Maybe Maria liked painting her toys with blood and licking it up like a cat. It wouldn't be the first odd fetish he noticed from her.

Cooper seemed to numbly pull the string around his neck and put the hat back on shore. The boots were already on the bank. Finally, with a twinge of trepidation that even Jasper could feel, he slowly undid the loincloth.

Jasper noticed the damage right away. Reattachment and bite scars speckled the area covered up by the dirty canvas. He didn't say anything as Cooper scooped water out of the river and flung it on his head. He didn't say anything as he watched the vampire shake with tearless sobs of wounded pride. He didn't say anything as Cooper took the cloth, unfolded it, and tried his best to tie it around his waist again. It was completely in tatters now, from Maria's enthusiastic treatment and apparently her multiple castrations.

Cooper jumped when he heard the splash. The major had tossed a rock at him, it seemed. Cooper turned to give the major an attempt at a scathing look when he noticed that the man had disappeared. In his place was half of the major's scarf, torn so carefully that Cooper hadn't heard the noise.

Silently, Cooper took the new cloth, slowly tied it around himself, and thanked the major wordlessly. He put the hat and boots back on and got ready to return to Maria's side, to serve her again.

* * *

The newborn wars were drawing to a close. Territories were already hacked out, for the most part, and too much violence continued. Soon, the remaining armies had driven themselves into the ground, and they were ended. Jasper was still bound to Maria, and they began the arduous task of culling the masses.

Cooper had been killed soon after Jasper gave him the cloth. He had turned too flighty, too distracted to fulfill his duty to Maria, and she snuffed out his life and promptly replaced him with a new blond toy. Jasper had gained a companion somehow in a newborn named Peter. While Peter didn't seem to have a gift of sorts, he had a strong sense of intuition that guided his daily behaviors. Maria found the man interesting and Jasper saw him as a captain below him yet a brother nonetheless.

There were only a few more soldiers to be destroyed before the group of three would start destroying the toys. Maria ordered the last soldier to be killed before waving her hand indiscriminately at the huddle of foggy-eyed toys that stood numbly in one place. After tearing apart the screaming female (she had black hair that ran to her waist, as well as a cruel set of nails more similar to claws), Jasper and Peter turned their attention to the toys.

Jasper noticed that Peter seemed almost reluctant to part with his particular toy. She was a beauty, but in a more ethereal way than the other toys had been. She had short black hair, which was odd to Jasper as most of the toys were blond (as per Maria's preference), and it lay flat against her hair, sort of like a boy's hair. She had dancing eyes and an infectious laugh that sometimes sparked the air, relaxing whoever heard it. Jasper didn't even really know her name.

All he knew was that she was to be destroyed.

"Jasper, please," Peter whispered. Jasper ignored him; the blonde vampire methodically tore down a male, who screeched in agony before being set on fire and destroyed. Jasper turned his sights to Peter's toy next. He felt a flicker of fear, and some other emotion, one he didn't really feel, coupled with a twinge of determination. He felt himself getting knocked down, Peter screaming out, "RUN, CHARLOTTE! GET OUT OF HERE!" before sprinting off himself. Jasper could have gotten up and chased them down, destroyed the one called Charlotte slowly to torture Peter, but he chose not to. He chose to let them go.

He finished destroying the last toy and vowed to himself that he too would one day leave Maria's services and find some other meaning for his life. Until then, he would wait in the background, manipulate whatever was happening, and finally get a chance to reacquaint himself with the world.

Wouldn't that be nice to see.

* * *

**As I announced earlier, this story is in its final stretch. So please, send in your OCs and song suggestions before it is too late! And VOTE ON THE POLL for the next one! As of right now, two choices are tied for first, and I'm not writing two stories at once. So go choose what you want to see! **

**~Shriayle**


	37. Syzygy: Treaties and Punishments

**So, the animal-eaters we all love to hate or hate to love have shown up in this chapter. I kind of see them in a different light after reading _Long, Long, Long _and _Living in the Sun_ by Knackard. Both are M-rated and are basically just rewrites of the books, but the author does a fine job recreating the gifts of the Olympia coven. I like what she did with Esme and Jasper in particular; Esme becomes this strategy QUEEN and Jasper is just master of the entire world with his gift. I have sort of incorporated the Esme idea, though she won't be as brilliant as Knackard's Esme. Fair warning.**

**Also my computer's wifi didn't work for like three days geezus. And I seem to be gaining/losing followers really often nowadays? I don't really look at those numbers, personally, but don't leave quite yet. The plot is just now getting started, after all!**

**Playlist ideas still welcome and I need literally one more OC for the lower guard. Final call before I end it.**

**REPLIES: (Not as many tonight, it seems)**

**Arabella Whitlock: Bonding is good :D**

**I am in Loki's Army: Thank you, loverly friend. Also hyper is good. Very good. In general, I write these in like two days, but NaNoWriMo and college essays make it a not as quick process in uploading the chapters cry**

**MoonPrincess623: To be honest I don't really ship anything besides Jasper/Bella, so making ISAbella her own person is a lot more fun. And I don't really actually ship a lot of the couples here, as I've said before. Just stick around for the story, I guess, because romance plays a role so small that an elephant can step on it without realizing that it has stepped on anything.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: Morreeeeee has commeeeeeee**

* * *

"Jamie! Report!"

The new guard was violently pushed into the room by a black lion with a grey mane whose dancing yet foggy golden eyes glimmered in amusement. Unperturbed, he got back up and nonchalantly dusted his black leather jacket off before glaring behind him. John immediately changed back into a human, gave him a wicked smirk, and winked at him before rejoining the lower guard. Jamie rolled his eyes at him before turning back to the kings. "My apologies, majesties," he said formally.

Jamie was a lower guard, but he was one of the most valuable in the tower. He didn't have any gifts, yet Aro treasured him, which contradicted the rumors about him as a treasure hunter of sorts. Jamie was from Britain, much like Isabella, Jane, and Alec had been, but he was from the aristocratic class that came about in the mid-1800s. He had the posh-sounding Southern English accent, as well. It was something that Felix and Demetri found themselves teasing him with. Jamie's skill was one of the more impressive non-gift abilities. He could easily sneak around and get information from wherever he wanted to without being detected. For that reason, Aro found himself sending George's creation out to gain inside information after George ran afoul of another creation and was destroyed. After George's unfortunate demise, Jamie was invited to join the Volturi guard, an invitation he did not turn down.

"None taken," Marcus said, waving his hand dismissively. "Just continue, please."

Jamie just nodded. He cleared his throat and patted his raven black hair down self-consciously, taking a bit of extra time to make sure that his hair was sculpted in the carefully messy style he preferred. "Well, it seems as though the Olympia coven thinks that they can do what they wish without our noticing. There are currently five members and one gifted among them, though I hesitate to say that he is our only threat, or even a threat at all. The patriarch has his 'kindness' as he calls it, or self-control as I've seen it. He works as a doctor now and somehow doesn't drink any human's blood along with it. His first creation is a vampire that he calls 'son' but is nowhere near that, bond-wise. I would liken it to a mate, but it isn't really at the same time. He is called Edward, has red-brown hair not unlike bronze, and can read minds of their passing thoughts. I haven't an idea how to combat this as of yet."

"I do," another voice cut in. Jamie glanced behind him to see his mate, Aaron, emerge from the mass of lighter-grey cloaks. The much humbler man bowed his head in apology to the kings, but Aro only said, "Go on, Aaron."

"If I may," Aaron said, his dark skin shimmering in the half-light filtering in from the windows. He kept his head bowed, for being a slave in the American Confederacy had drilled in the proper manners of servitude, which the kings vehemently fought to get rid of. He lifted his head at Aro's insistence. "I would think that, because the vampire can only pick up outer traces of thoughts, we can combat this by thinking of something on top of our actual thoughts. I would think that we could add to our odd image of 'violent government' by thinking of ways to torture them on top of our saner thoughts. I could, for example, think of ripping off this Edward's limbs while, under the surface, think of more humane punishments such as bringing him back and casting him into the fire."

"Thank you, Aaron," Caius said in a clipped tone. He looked back to Jamie, who was smiling openly and proudly at his mate's ingenuity. "Jamie, stop grinning like a hyena and finish your report now," the white-haired king snapped, though his eyes glittered with the same amusement.

Jamie bowed the same way Aaron had (the latter had already returned to his grey cloaked allies) and began again. "The patriarch next created a female, apparently in hopes that she would be the mate for his 'son'. Rosalie, she is called. She went through a horrific past in Rochester, and for that she has turned extremely bitter. She also has an emphasized stubbornness and has been searching for a way to bear a child without turning one immortal. She doesn't wish to disobey the law. Her mate is called Emmett and was found being mauled by a bear. He is just as large and intimidating as one, as well; some of his strength failed to leech out after his newborn years, I would say. He seems a rather jolly person that hasn't had any formal training in combat, which is a pity. They also have a matriarch, named Esme. I believe that she is the most dangerous of all, for the trait that was emphasized in her was her mother's love. The same love that would persist until the death of those who harmed her 'children.' These vampires also think they have allies around the world, when the same allies are more inclined to join with us in a pinch. Funny how that works out.

"They have moved into Washington, it seems, and they have run afoul of the local shifter population, which John kindly informed me of as I was walking through. They seem to somehow be coexisting with the wolves."

"Wolves?" Caius glanced at the newest guard with a disgusted look (Jamie remained unperturbed as he knew that it wasn't directed towards him).

Jamie nodded. "Yes. There are only three, and they change by will. They aren't like the Children of the Moon; they change because they want to protect their tribe from vampires. Something about tribal history and a third wife. Anyhow, I barely got out of there unnoticed, not by the vampires but by the shifters. Perhaps we should visit the coven soon? Or at least send a group of guards?"

"Silence your tongue," Caius spat out. Jamie swallowed a flash of venom that spurted into his mouth out of nervousness. "I apologize," he murmured.

Aro nodded blankly, deep in thought. He closed his eyes as he focused, not really listening to anything around him. Finally, he let out a small sigh and leaned back.

"Well, that settles it," he said. "I'll have to send out some of the Elites to take care of this threat."

Jamie bowed before backing into the group of other lower guards. Afton and John flanked them, with Lenna, Damian, and Lilianna behind them. Aaron emerged to hug Jamie around the midsection and whisper into his ear. The mass of dappled grey rippled as it slowly backed away from Aro's scrutinizing gaze.

"Hmm." Aro set his gaze on the darker shades of grey next to them. "Jane. Demetri. Felix. You are to go talk to Carlisle and his newest recruits. Alec, go with them just in case."

The four named guards nodded before conferring with themselves quietly and preparing to leave. Jane wasn't sure what she could do to hold herself back from attacking Carlisle, and Demetri promised to try and hold her back. Felix just found their antagonizing attitude towards Carlisle the most amusing thing on this side of the millennium.

Alec merely rolled his eyes very similarly to the way Jamie just had and followed the rest of the group out of the Castle, shaking his head.

* * *

The vampires decided against swimming across the ocean. They didn't want to take a ship either, or one of the odd new human contraptions for flight.

So instead, they chose to race across the water as fast as possible, somehow running across the surface rather than sinking. They managed to avoid ending up on the seafloor as they dashed along, much to Jane's pleasure (she hated getting too wet).

As the foam sprayed up around them and the wind ripped through their hair, the guards all had different opinions and thoughts.

Felix could think only of what the Cullen clan might have to go through as punishment for this. He thought of the possible violent actions he could suggest to Caius after returning. Maybe it was too soon, but eh.

Jane thought of the possible new recruits Carlisle had brought into that infernal cult of his. The cult of animal drinking, or something. They must all think they were so much high than the other vampires, those who drank (perish the thought) _human_ blood. The blood that controlled newborn lust within a matter of months, leaving behind only the strength as blood-driven venom still pulses through the veins, surely drinking animal blood will restore senses as quickly? Hopefully there weren't too many vampires that had to be persuaded. Maybe they wouldn't try and persuade them at all. She then began to mull over what she could use as a protection for her thoughts, even if Isa managed to keep her shield about them. It was better to fool the other vampire, after all.

Alec thought of how he could immobilize the coven, how they might try and fight back. The mind-reader didn't faze him, as Isabella's protection would probably extend thrice around the world if need be. Yet he knew that keeping background thoughts would serve to confuse the mind-reader if they ever had to bring Isabella for whatever reason. His mind wandered to how much he missed Renata already.

Demetri had already begun the hunt. He aligned his thoughts with Carlisle's 'frequency' and began to slowly direct the group towards the Pacific Northwest. The other three followed him immediately, knowing that this was his strength.

They went to carry out their duty. After all, they were highly trained guards, no matter what everyone else thought of them. They allowed the rumors to continue, that Jane or Alec couldn't fight, that Felix was mindless, that all were bound by Chelsea's gifts, that they drank from humans every day. They couldn't be bothered to get rid of the nonsense. Besides, their true allies knew every drop of it was false.

They went to mete out justice now.

* * *

Carlisle, Edward, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett were doing... something.

To be honest, they themselves had no idea what they were doing. They meant to try and blend in with the humans in hopes of finishing their educations; Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett inevitably dropped out at various times when they were forced to transform. The three vampires that looked like human teenagers just tried their hardest to blend in, though their pale skin, piercing gold eyes (of which they were proud; no disgusting crimson for them), and cold attitudes separated them from the rest of the humans.

Carlisle had begun working at the hospital, saying that he finally mastered his self-control, and they had successfully crafted a treaty with the local shifters. Four of them were mated and the last one patient enough to wait. All was well.

Or was it?

The five of them had gone out to hunt together. A herd of deer had been spotted in the woods by some lucky human hunter, and the vampires had wasted no time in finding them and claiming about half of them to quench their aching throats. As they happily traipsed home, smelling of iron and earth, Edward felt a slight prickle at the back of his mind. Someone, maybe a hiker, was thinking something. He mindlessly tuned in, wondering what the human could be thinking about.

_Ugh, disgusting animal eaters._ The thought soon phased into graphic images of violence that Edward quickly cut himself off from.

He froze at the hostile comment. From only the way it was phrased, he knew that it was another vampire. He quietly scented the air; four almost undetectable traces drifted over the breezes and alerted him. They weren't alone.

"Carlisle," he said with some urgency before black blurs overtook their group of five and immediately surrounded them.

There were three figures who materialized from the darkness, all with dark grey cloaks in a variety of shades. The largest had the lightest, although the differences were too minute for human eyes. A lanky figure with a slight smirk had the second darkest, and the smallest had a cloak so dark it was almost black. Almost, but not quite. All three were male, and all three had deep red eyes.

Carlisle took a deep breath before letting it out. He gestured to his coven to stay together, a rather noticeable action that led to one of the figures (the thinner tall one) rolling his eyes. Edward was still frozen with horror. He knew that there were at least four vampires approaching. Where was the last one?

Almost as if on cue, Rosalie dropped to the ground with a loud shriek of pain. Emmett cried out helplessly as he tried to gather her twitching form up. At his touch, she convulsed more violently, her head thrashing, her golden eyes rolling to the back of her head. She began to sob, "Put it out! Put out the fire!"

"There is no fire, Rosie," Emmett whispered, sounding heartbroken as he watched his mate suffer.

"I feel it, Em. Please, just put it out. Just stop it," she begged.

Edward felt her pain through his mind, saw her thoughts, and he felt his knees give way as he sank to the ground, hands on his temples.

_Oh, would you like some too, little boy? There's much to share. _A thought came out of the vivid, lurid images of torture that came from the four surrounding them. The as of yet unknown fourth member gave a gleeful giggle in her (he decided that she must be a female) mind, and then his world exploded.

He felt his arms being lashed down, his legs tied together, and he felt the burning. First it was just a flicker, a small ember that escaped the wood. Then, the pain burst into being, singing its own praises as it watched him scream and shudder on the ground.

"Enough," the small figure called out. Rosalie and Edward's pain immediately vanished, leaving them quivering on the ground. Carlisle looked helplessly, first on his son (a long, anguished look), and then his daughter (a short, empathetic look).

"Stand down, guards," the large one said, and the three walked forward so that the Cullens could see their face.

Carlisle stiffened. "Felix. Demetri. Alec," he spat out one at a time. "What are you doing here, and why are you hurting my family?"

"Family?" A high-pitched voice toyed with the word, a feminine tone stretching certain parts to make it sound uncertain. A fourth figure, as small as Alec's, walked out from the shadows behind the Olympia coven. Esme and Emmett started at her sudden appearance, Emmett with a look of utter loathing burning in his still-amber-red eyes, but Carlisle wasn't surprised at all. He had a feeling it was her, from the moment that Rosalie fell to the ground with a scream.

"Jane," he added tersely. Her eyes glittered from under the hood of her cloak, dark as night.

"Ah, Carlisle, it's been a while," she drawled out, gesturing for the three males to relax. And they did, Felix and Alec moving in front of the Cullens while Demetri joined Jane behind them. Their hands intertwined, an action not lost on Edward.

"How can you touch her, when she did something so horrible to us?" he blurted out. Jane's ruby-red eyes darted to meet his panicked golden orbs; he knew that he messed up. But she decided that there was enough punishment today.

"Your first-made, Carlisle?" The blond gave a numb nod. "Teach him some manners."

Edward's face crumpled and his eyes grew black with rage. "What did you say, you little whelp?!" he growled out.

"Edward!" Esme called, but it was too late. Demetri had already darted out, grabbed Edward, and thrown him against a tree with a thunderous _CRACK!_ The tree abruptly splintered and fell down behind the dazed vampire, but it hadn't fallen before Demetri snatched Edward by the throat and shoved his face in the younger vampire's.

"Call her that again, I dare you," Demetri snarled, trembling in anger. Emmett watched the guard in awe, how he had immediately pushed Jane behind him before attacking with the grace and precision of a jungle cat. As much as he immediately hated Jane, Emmett had a grudging admiration for her mate's protective instinct. As did Carlisle.

"Edward, come back here," Carlisle called out.

Demetri growled at the coven leader as well.

"Demi, it does us no good to keep him," Jane said, stroking his free arm. He relaxed at her gesture and threw Edward away like filth.

"As amusing as it is to watch you animal-eaters get roughed up a bit, we are here for a specific reason," Felix rumbled. The five golden-eyed vampires jumped; they had forgotten that Alec and Felix were still there.

"Ah, yes, and why are you guards here?" Carlisle asked cautiously.

"We heard tell of a treaty with another species, one you didn't inform us of."

The five stiffened at Alec's words.

"Ah, yes, well," Carlisle stuttered out, incapable of crafting a response.

"Shut the hell up. You," Jane pointed at Esme, whose eyes grew wide. "Tell us of this. No embellishing or editing if you don't want your 'children'" (the word was so sarcastically spoken that her meaning got across immediately) "to die in complete agony."

Esme nodded curtly. "We were approached by three giant wolves. They were called Ephraim, Levi, and Quil, I believe. They said we were on their territory, and that human-killers that they called Cold Ones were to be killed at once. We explained how we didn't kill humans, that we hunted animals the same way they did as top predators. They somewhat understood and graciously gave us the benefit of the doubt, telling us where they would set a boundary and that we were to never bite a human."

All the while, Edward tried to pick up on their thoughts. Somehow, miraculously, all four of them didn't have a single thought on Esme's words. The Felix guard was thinking of his mate and their less-than-polite behavior with each other. Both Alec and Jane were thinking of returning to Italy as soon as possible. And Demetri was thinking of how he would tear Edward apart for calling his mate a whelp. None of their thoughts were satisfactory in any way. Edward let out a huff. He wasn't used to working to find the answers he sought.

"So that's it, then," Jane said. Esme nodded, afraid to say another word in hopes that her children would be saved.

"Then, coven of Carlisle Cullen, we will leave you. Hopefully, you won't be too badly mauled by wolves when you do break one of their rules. It would be a shame for Aro to lose his, ah, _acquaintance_." Smirking at the patriarch's involuntary wince, Jane glanced at her companions, who nodded.

The four of them silently melted back into the forest in unison, and were racing across Montana before the Olympia coven even knew what was happening.

"Carlisle, what will we do now?" Edward asked, pure panic in his eyes.

The blond vampire sighed. "We'll just have to deal with the consequences of this, I guess," he muttered before walking off, trailed by his firstborn. Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie hurried to catch up to them.

* * *

The four guards had sprinted across the Great Lakes and into New York, but they decided to stay in the city and see what would happen there. They also needed to feed, and the small towns of western New York didn't seem to be the kinds of places where people would go missing very often.

Jane, Alec, Demetri, and Felix were therefore strolling down a street in New York City. It was still autumn, and it was an overcast day at that. No one threw odd glances at the vampires as they walked through the crowds with completely black hooded parkas, pants, and gloves.

Alec had been walking along when he picked up the smell of a man bleeding out in the alleys. He also felt a bit thirsty. Maybe a hunt would clear his mind a bit.

"Jane, Demetri, Felix, I'm off to hunt. I'll meet you under the Empire State in about two hours," he said in a low voice. The other three nodded and made their way towards the huge, brand-new landmark (construction had just ended the year before, swallowing more jobs and throwing the States into a further Depression). Alec casually followed his nose into the backstreets of New York.

"Pardon me, sir, but do you have a coin I could have?" Alec blinked. An urchin sat in front of him, dirt caking him from head to toe, a hat jauntily thrown on his head, hair growing practically to his shoulders. Wordlessly, Alec took out a penny, flicked it at him, and walked away as the kid scrambled for the brown coin.

He followed the scent of the blood down the street, around a corner, and into a small home. It must have been for squatters, but there was only one person. A man, as he thought, with too many puncture wounds in his arm. _User_, Alec sneered, but blood was blood, no matter how tainted. Alec gently took the man's head (the man didn't fight back) and broke his neck before sinking his fangs into the man's throat and drinking out his lifeblood. The man sagged to the side and Alec quietly put him down before leaving the building.

Only to be nearly knocked over by a red and brown blur.

Alec stumbled, but he managed to catch the racing figure. How could something have snuck up on him like that?

It was a girl, one slightly taller than him, maybe a little over Isabella's age judging by her facial structure. She was beaming at him, her matted red hair flying everywhere, her happy eyes the same shade.

"You! I thought that you would be here by yesterday, or, euh, by last week. Ah, _Bedre sent end aldrig_, right?" (Better late than never)

Alec was completely silenced by his shock. She just nodded, her wide eyes pleading for affirmation.

"Uh-um, of course," he answered slowly. She squealed and hugged him again, nearly bowling him over.

"Thank you, thank you, _tak, tak, tak, tak_!" (Thank you) Alec blinked again. This girl seemed to have some sort of tic in which she phased from English to some other language. Danish, he thought.

"_Naturalmente, siete i benvenuti_," (Of course, you're welcome.) Alec said in return, wondering if she knew Italian well enough to understand his statement.

She smirked. "_Sì, io lo so italiano. Devo, dove stiamo andando, giusto?_" (Yes, I do know Italian. I have to, where we're going, right?)

"Where _we're_ going? Where are we going?" Alec asked, bemused.

"Home, of course! To the _Slottet_, right?" (Castle)

"You're coming to my home with me?"

"Yes, that's why I taught myself Italian! I am to speak with your king, and maybe he will offer me a place! It will be perfect!" The girl flounced about a bit. She gasped before turning back to him.

"I'm so sorry, I nearly forgot! My name is Reina, _rart at møde dig_." (nice to meet you)

"Alec. Charmed."

"Well, yes, I already know that."

"Of course you do."

"_Ja_." (Yes)

"Well, let's go meet up with the others, then."

All that Reina said soon came to pass. She returned to Volturi Castle with them, and Aro discovered her gift. She could apparently see others' fates, though it was a rare occasion and mostly just a flash. But what she did see couldn't be changed and were usually very important and critical in a soul's development, human or vampire. For that reason, she was given a white cloak, just like the one that Corin, Chelsea, Renata, and the queens now wore to show their protected status, and asked to remain in the Castle. Which she promptly agreed to do, as she didn't want to train herself for any possible conflicts in the future.

Renata found a best friend in Reina, and the two would often be seen talking in whatever language they felt like. Alec didn't know what to make of it. Jane thought it was a riot. And, as usual, Isabella never shared her opinions on Reina, though she did look at the fiery-headed girl with a glint of approval in her eyes. And that was more than enough for Reina.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Be sure to vote on the poll.  
**

**~Shriayle**


	38. Syzygy: Sinking Sun

**Yep, only a couple days since last update. I didn't have to go to school on Tuesday, so I spent a bit more time planning out the rest of this story and writing this chapter. The way I've got the story planned, _The Life of a Phoenix_ will end up being about 55/60 chapters, depending on how long I feel like making certain episodes. It will most likely go to the 60. Even though there are just over twenty chapters left, I promise you that I will hit you with more action than Meyer's entire series. Starting with this chapter! This is also where I started moving away from canon timelines. I'll let you read the rest. Also new story will come out yes poll yes thank you.**

**REPLIES:**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: Thanks for calling this story awesome xD**

**Arabella Whitlock: Eh, I don't really like Alice's bouncy character. She could have been better expanded on, I think.**

**Rinlovesyou (Guest): AS ARE YOU! Sorry I forgot to credit Reina to you o_o She also becomes rather important yays.**

**YunaNeko: Thanks for the support :D**

**natcityjp: I should be thanking you, good madam.**

**Alice (Guest): SCARY JANE IS MY FAVE xD Seriously though, it's fun to show how the Volturi keeps the rumors going. They mostly do it for the fun of it, and also if the vampire world knew how they actually worked, they would be inundated with unnecessary problems as they try and work on the vampire world. Ick. Also Jane knows that because of his compassion-thing, seeing Edward and Rosalie in pain would probably hurt Carlisle just as much as hurting him would. She killed three birds with two stones. Four if you count Emmett. Also meeting Isabella opens its own can of worms for the Cullens, indeed it does. Also you can see my opinion of Alice [Brandon Cullen] up above. And yes, I do like thinking of the Cullen 'family' as a cult. A cult of animal eaters. If you look through a guard's perspective, their odd eating habits can be thought of as almost cult-like, yes? Like reverse cannibalism or something.  
**

**Fish337: Glad to hear!**

* * *

The typically peaceful, lush fields looked calm as usual. The clouds were their usual quicksilver-grey, goading the earth with rain. But the day was far from usual; a tension laced the air, and threatening impulses to hide, to fight, to flee shot through everyone's nerves. Especially the three hypersensitive figures that huddled in their cottage and its surrounding areas, their expressions becoming more and more haunted as the days passed.

Maggie shivered, breaking a man's neck (a criminal, though a petty one). She didn't like this feeling of horror, of impending doom. In general, vampires couldn't and shouldn't feel so scared, so hunted. She didn't understand what was happening, and she nearly choked as she tried to comfort her thirst. The man she had been drinking from fell from her hands and she began to cough and retch, dark, sticky blood laced with shimmering venom spilling out of her mouth as her throat clenched up involuntarily from the apprehension that clouded the air. She kicked the man's corpse away from herself in disgust and stumbled backwards, racing for home in the pastures that only cows and sheep filled, both of which shied away from her speeding form.

She burst through the front door and ran into her room, curling up on the ground. She felt herself whimper, first only once, and then in a sporadic fashion as the battling thirst and helpless panic fought over her. She grabbed her throat in her hands, trying to soothe the warring sides, but to no avail. Distantly, she heard pounding footsteps a second before Liam and Siobhan burst into her room. Siobhan let out an anguished cry before kneeling down next to Maggie's curled up form.

Siobhan looked at her adoptive daughter, whose red hair pooled around her head like a puddle of glistening, delicious, horrifying, sickening blood, whose prone form was curled in a fetal position with only her hands out of place, grasping onto her throat as if trying to tear it away, fingers clawing at the stiff yet soft skin there. Siobhan heard Maggie's wretched sobs and responded with her own.

"Maggie, my darling! What is the matter with you? Please, tell me, Maggie!" she said, shaking her charge's shoulder, hoping to make Maggie snap out of it.

"S-Siob," Maggie managed to whisper, swallowing quickly afterwards. "Is somethin' going te happen te us?" her brogue slipped out at a few words.

Siobhan exchanged a look with Liam. They had heard of the news, but they didn't want Maggie to know yet. She still seemed to have figured it out, maybe by their heavy emotions and wariness, maybe her gift. They too felt the weight of the air around them.

"Nothing too bad, m'darling," she murmured.

Maggie said nothing when she felt the prick of warning pain in the back of her mind. _She's lying and she knows it_, Maggie thought. What could have frightened her strong, sturdy coven leader so much that she lied to the one she thought of as daughter? She curled up even further somehow, still whimpering from the heady atmosphere, Siobhan kneeling next to her and stroking her hair, Liam standing in the doorway with a grave expression.

"How long until?" Maggie asked in a breathy voice.

"Soon," Siobhan choked out.

"Very soon."

The three vampires whipped around at the chilling, unfamiliar voice to see two figures standing in the end of the hallway. They had powdery skin, dusty hair, and raging crimson eyes. Liam moved to stand in front of Siobhan and Maggie in the doorway, but one of the invaders, one with short, white hair, had already intercepted his move and threw him to the side. Liam fell to the ground but managed to launch himself at the other vampire before he could race through.

Liam heard a screech that made his blood freeze. Holding his thrashing captive still, he turned to look into the room.

Maggie had backed into a far corner as the other vampire hung over Siobhan's fighting body. He held one of her arms in his hand, and venom dripped out slowly, viscously, covering the floor and beginning to eat away at the moss growing on some of the stones. Siobhan's eyes were black with pain and anger, and she tore at the other vampire desperately, trying to get her appendage back.

The white-haired vampire held the arm away from her gleefully, smirking at her obvious discomfort, as much of an understatement that the word is. He dangled it away from her, spraying the floor with more venom. Siobhan let out a wounded howl and struggled even more desperately.

Liam somehow lost his grip on the other vampire, who surged forward, despite Liam's grip on his legs. One leg ended up breaking off from the knee down, the wound leaking venom, but the invader merely grimaced before throwing himself at Siobhan and holding her down. She screamed again, looking desperately at Liam, as if asking her to help, help her before-

The black-haired assailant tore her head cleanly off. The rest of her body began to struggle less and less, and soon the beautiful female vampire had been torn into shreds that were thrown across the room.

Liam screamed in anguish before throwing himself at them, his eyes glowing like burning embers. He couldn't do anything else but fight for his lost mate, fight in the hopes that they would die as well and that he would be able to put her back together somehow. He saw the shimmering venom that was thrown across the room, and he fought the two invaders with his fangs, his hands, his feet, anything that would hurt them somehow.

Far too quickly, he was subdued and they began to ravage his body. Quickly, he looked towards Maggie, who had thrown herself to the farthest corner and was slowly inching towards the door.

"Go to Italy," he hissed to her through his pain as his chest was being lacerated by hungry fangs and clawed fingers. "Seek refuge at the Castle." He felt his assailants quicken their task, as if to prevent Maggie from leaving sooner. He began to thrash about, slowing their process, his eyes still locked onto hers. "Please Maggie, go! Forget about me, just go!"

She felt her limbs unlock, her thirst give up, the fear that palpably pulsed through the air enter her, and she ran. She felt herself run faster than she thought possible, blindly running through countryside to the shore. The second she got to the water, she jumped in with no hesitation and began swimming underwater, trying desperately to reduce the waves she gave off. She soon ran into the continent, and she inched around it until she knew she was closer to Italy. She watched the day turn to night turn to day turn to night again. Finally, she decided that she could leave her newfound sanctuary and dragged herself out of the ocean.

Scents bombarded her from all around. Her head reeled from all of the faint traces of human that flooded her senses, sending her thirst on fire and forcing her to forget about the Castle. But she never forgot about anything that Siobhan or Liam would ever tell her. They deserved that now; she had felt her connection to them break, and what Liam said sounded true. He wanted her to forget about his safety for her own. And that hurt.

Her last memory of her family was a destroyed mother and a father-brother who was in the process of being literally torn from her.

Maggie stumbled into a city, venom tears welling up in her eyes, but never falling for their thickness. She found herself latching onto a dying woman, drinking her life force, dropping the carcass, and curling in on herself, still crying. It was nighttime, and she had found herself a secluded area.

After lying for a couple of hours, Maggie shakily got up and stumbled out into the street. She took wide, circular paths around the glaring streetlights, careful not to expose her sparkling flesh, the sparkles that now sickened her rather than filling her with wonder as they once did. She approached a person walking towards her.

"Pardon, but where am I?" she asked in quivering Italian. The man blinked at her innocent yet shattered expression, her perfectly round face, her porcelain skin, her dull red eyes that looked almost brown but not quite. Her innate beauty from being a perfected human.

"Er, yes, this is Livorno. Why?"

"Thank you," she mumbled, walking away, leaving a bewildered human behind. She managed to walk out of the city limits before finding suitable cover to curl up in and relive the last few days of her life.

The days in which her life went to hell.

She saw Siobhan, comforting her moments before she was ripped away from Maggie. She saw the desperation in her creator's eyes as the white-haired and black-haired vampire tore her apart without a drop of remorse. She remembered his low hissing at her.

"You associate with them, you get this in return. It hurts, doesn't it? It hurts the mate more, as yours is feeling, see. And that is why we are doing this to you. Maybe the witches will even feel it in their own core; the eldest was close to you, yes? Maybe we'll even hurt her; wouldn't that be a sight?"

All quiet mutterings over the screaming of a mangled, destroyed vampire. Maggie felt tears rise up again.

Liam had run in like an angered, no, an _outraged_ dog, one that watched wolves kill one of the sheep it was supposed to protect. Liam, broad, overbearing, stern, wonderful Liam had charged in after the assailants and grabbed them and tried to tear them away from Siobhan, who had been reduced to a sparkling pile of bones and skin and guts and-

Maggie wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked herself gently on the filthy ground, trying to keep herself together. She had been with the coven for almost a century, and now they were gone. Torn away right in front of her. As though they were the paper dolls she played with as a child, dolls that she tried hard to keep pristine but ended up tearing anyways. She never kept the torn ones, she remembered.

She stood back up on shaky legs and began running again, towards Volterra. She had to keep moving. She couldn't just stop now, now that the two attackers were probably done reattaching the one's leg and burning up their little cottage with Siobhan and Liam still inside. No. She had nowhere to go except forward, and forward she went.

She wandered through farmlands and through cities to reach her goal. When she passed by the gradually larger populations of humans, her thirst flared up, but she never felt the urge to act on it. Everything she once lived for was gone now, wasn't it?

A twinge of pain attacked the base of her mind. She tensed up, rubbing the spot, wondering what happened, when she realized that she had thought something her gift was telling her was-

It was a lie.

There was still someone out there that she could live for. Another family member, or another person to tie herself to. Another rock.

There was still hope.

Excited and energized, Maggie held up her head and smiled slightly to herself. It wasn't much more than a brief upturn at the corners of her mouth, but it was the first time she smiled since she watched her creator and old coven be destroyed in a matter of minutes. Huh. They were her 'old' coven now, and her head wasn't aching. She would get a new coven it seemed, one that would serve her as well as her old one, and one that she would be willing to serve just as enthusiastically. And she gladly accepted the lack of pain, the lack of lies.

She was certain that her new coven would be in Volterra. When the twinge of pain she was expecting never came, her core began to take flight within her. If she were still human, her heart would be racing at inhuman speeds to catch up to her soaring spirits. There was a new story for her in Volterra, amongst the governing body of her kind, and she would be there to embrace her place, rumors be damned. She never quite believed them, anyways.

She bid one final, agonizing farewell to Liam and Siobhan. Closing her eyes tightly, she finally felt one of her venom-laced tears begin to fall, but she caught it and flicked it away and onto the ground before it could. Smiling a bit more now, she ran towards the Castle.

Towards _home_. Her mind hummed contentedly. It must be the truth.

* * *

Reina had urgently asked for an audience with the kings the day after the Irish coven's destruction, though they didn't quite know of it yet. Isabella and Renata tried to get a reason out of her, Jane even threatening to pinch her if she didn't say, but Reina insisted that it was only for the kings to hear. John, who was guarding the throne room as a black leopard with grey spots, merely shrugged and opened the door with his tail when she stormed up to him and demanded an audience, not even bothering to turn back into a human.

The crimson-haired vampire raced into the room and bowed to the kings hurriedly before standing up straight and blurting out, "Something's gone horribly wrong with fate. Everything's been changed. Everything has to be fixed, and it will be a long and arduous process for us."

Aro gave her a piercing look and got up quickly. His skin glittered in the ambient light, but his eyes glowed a powerful red, one that had become more potent as his concern increased. "Reina, explain or show me," he commanded, holding a hand out.

Without any hesitation, Reina took his hand and stared intently into her king's eyes. Aro's eyes widened and he threw hers back, horror flooding his face and redefining his features. He saw the flashes that she had, and though they were fragmented, he understood what they meant. All of them.

"Brother?" Marcus asked sharply. "Please, tell us."

"I can't, I might ruin it all," Aro muttered, wringing his hands and sitting back down.

Caius's eyes narrowed and he looked at Reina with distrustful, narrowed eyes. "Please, explain to us, guard," he said coldly. "As clearly as you can."

She nodded, let out a breath, and bit her lip, as though thinking of how to phrase her words.

"One of fire was thrown out of green. Into water the fire fled, though never going out. The fire makes way for us. From the green it rose from, death and destruction awaits. The fatalities have created waves through the water that unknowingly will hit gold in the American West. The waves must be calmed for any future peace."

The room was silent. Isabella could hear the faint crumbling of the facade of the building as one mote of dust got crushed out in every passing minute from the entropy the vampires fought to escape.

Finally, the tense environment was broken when a large cat padded into the room, gave Reina an annoyed look, and turned into a man with brown hair and grey cloak.

"Really, Reina? You had to go and break everyone with your riddles?" he asked, his golden eyes flashing in exasperated amusement.

She glared at him, nowhere near as amused as he was. "You do not understand. This is a matter of importance, and it has already come to pass. Our entire world will be shaken by this. Do you not understand the simplest of English?"

"That's rich, coming from you," he shot back easily, referencing her semi-think accent, a leftover trait from living in Denmark.

"Alright, children, break it up," Isabella growled out, slapping the back of John's head and gently pushing Reina away from him.

Caius was still deep in thought.

"All we can do, then, is recognize that this, erm, _prophecy_ of sorts will be unraveled over time and we will soon know what it means," the white-haired king said carefully.

The guards all nodded and Jane opened her mouth to say something when Renata ran into the room frantically. She had left to take over receptionist duty when Reina insisted on talking to the Volturi.

"Master Aro! Master Caius! Master Marcus!" she cried out in panic. "Someone had come, and you must come see them, quickly! She's in no shape to go to you."

The three kings exchanged glances before racing for the door. The siblings instinctively fell behind their specific king, Alec trailing Caius, Jane racing next to Aro, Isabella running a bit in front of Marcus, who had himself chosen to run behind the other two kings.

John and Reina were left to run after them at a slower pace.

"Geez, you'd think that the Lunar Children were back and chasing the Masters, the speed they've chosen to go," John muttered under his breath. He seemed to wait for her to acknowledge his rather bad joke. Maybe with a disgusted snort, or just a brief, dry chuckle. Instead, Reina's eyes were unfocused, though she ran through the halls effortlessly and without trouble.

"It has begun, John," she said in a faint voice. He gave her a worried glance that she did not return.

* * *

Isabella didn't understand why the kings chose to stop running so suddenly. They had raced to see who it was that wanted to see them in one second and frozen in the next. She stood next to her king, biting her lip in frustration but refusing to show any disobedience or impudence to any or all visitors. The Lord knew how often Aro chewed her out for doing so.

Marcus stiffened, reading the ties the unknown vampire had rapidly and seeing forcibly torn connections, before getting Isabella's attention. "Isabella, you must go and speak to the visitor first. The other kings should not speak first. This one is too broken to survive that encounter."

Not understanding but willing to listen, Isabella murmured pardon from Aro and Caius before walking in front of the group solemnly and regally. Once she saw who the visitor was, she dropped all of her airs and ran out to embrace the girl, her almost-black cloak billowing out after her.

Maggie crumpled against Isabella, her body shaking with sobs. Her fiery hair was in disarray, filled with brine and sand and twigs, and her dim burgundy eyes were foggy and unseeing.

"Maggie, what happened? Where are Siob and Liam? They should be with you, right? Siob never lets you leave her sight," Isabella asked, fearing the answer.

"Gone." It was the only word that Isabella could work out from the imperceptible babbles that Maggie offered in response. "Attack," she recognized next. The last word that Isabella could make out was "escape."

Aro and Caius approached Isabella cautiously, the former gently tapping her shoulder. Isabella looked up and grimaced in response. She gestured slightly to the girl in her arms.

"My dear, what is your name?" Caius asked softly, sounding far more caring than Isabella had ever heard him speak to anyone else.

Maggie took one look at the white-haired king and screamed. Her cry sounded choked and scared, while also defiant and angry. Bewildered, Caius lurched backwards and stared at her with wide eyes.

She looked to her left as well, at Aro, and gave another scream, and fought to escape Isabella's hold. "A trap! You made me lower my guard! You destroyed my coven! You stripped them away and left me with nothing! You annihilated them!"

She screamed and thrashed and sobbed at once.

"Maggie, listen to my words. We mean you no harm," Aro said quietly and gently. Maggie looked up and felt her mind relax. There were no lies in his words. Looking at him more closely, she noticed that the kings' skins were as scintillating as hers, nowhere near as powdery or opaque as theirs.

Noticing how calm the girl became after hearing Aro's words, Caius decided to try speaking again. "What coven were you from?" he worded carefully.

Her face folded, but she was able to whisper out, "Ireland," before shuddering again. Isabella deemed it safe enough to let Maggie go, and she stood back quietly next to Marcus again.

"Ireland? With Siobhan and Liam? Is this the girl you told me of, Isabella?" Aro asked. Isabella gave a wordless nod. "And I swore that I would not go seeking you, even after hearing of your gift. Do not worry, I do not yearn to force you to join. As you can see, our delightful Chelsea isn't even here right now." Marcus chuckled at the assurance. Chelsea wasn't even all that valuable to Aro anymore; Afton's gift was far more adaptable to more situations.

Maggie heard the truth in his words and nodded.

"Why are you here? Siobhan and Liam are fine coven leaders. Why would you leave them?"

"I would never have left voluntarily," Maggie whispered in response to Aro's question. "They were my coven, my protectors, my sire and her mate. I never wanted to leave. He told me to. I saw the sparkles, thrown across the wall, eating through the floor, and he told me to. I swam for ages because he told me to. I walked the nights and hid in the days because he told me to."

Aro grimaced. "I'm sorry, my dear, but you'll have to show me what you're talking about." He held out his hand. Immediately, Maggie touched it, as if she had prepared herself for what was about to happen, and his eyes widened at the carnage he saw. Shreds of vampire strewn about the room, the unfortunate soul's hair flung across the attackers' legs. The male vampire locking eyes with the girl and telling her in a steady voice to come to Volterra for asylum. He reeled backwards, head spinning, and the first things he said were a snarl. "Stefan and Vladimir are up to their trickery again."

"The Romanians? What do they want to do with the Irish?" Caius asked. Marcus cleared his throat. "If I may, brothers, I believe that we do have a strong connection with the coven; rather, we did. The Romanians probably want to weaken our links by destroying the covens most quote-en-quote 'loyal' to us. Starting with the only European coven left in existence."

Maggie just nodded dumbly. Aro made a noise of disbelief.

"Those damn Romanians have gone too far," Caius snarled, gripping his hand in a fist. Marcus gave him an odd look before it cleared up into amusement. Isabella made a mental note to ask him about what delighted him later.

"Isabella, Reina, Renata, get our new guest a room."

"Am I only a guest? Liam said to come here for protection. Would you protect me as a guest?" Maggie felt herself begin to succumb to anxiety and confusion, both of which were soon assuaged by the kings' next words.

Caius chuckled. "Strategic one, that man was. I can see no problem giving her a white cloak and making her a protected guard, what about you, brothers?"

Aro quickly agreed, remembering Maggie's penchant for lie-detecting and how useful it could be if she wanted to join so badly, and Marcus nodded in approval. He sensed that they would gain a few more members in the near future, and Maggie would be wanted and needed for those confrontations. Also, he wanted to investigate this interesting new string.

The string that tied Athenodora, Caius, and Maggie all together.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle  
**


	39. Syzygy: Sunset

**So I have completely finalized plot and everything. This story will have 56 chapters as well as a few epilogues and extras. I hope you'll stay for those rather than living when the main plot ends.**

**The moment you have all been waiting for: this is the last completely AU chapter. It's almost bittersweet. Of course, the entire story is AU, but starting on Chapter 40, the Twilight plotline will actually begin. AHHHHHHHHHHH**

**Oh yeah, there are a couple of interesting things here that serve more as foreshadowing than anything else :3 This should be the last sort-of action-less chapter for a while, though.**

**REPLIES:**

**Maiannaise: Yeah... I wanted to bring the Romanians back somehow. And Siobhan and Liam were the only 'untouched' characters Meyer seemed to introduce, so...**

**rinlovesyou: Mission accomplished B) Heh, thanks**

**MoonPrincess623: Erm, not quite, I think. Also, if you're interested in threesomes, I've planned one for one of the story ideas that I've got on the poll (Art of Chaos will probably see Hermione with both Weasley twins. It makes more sense in context of the story I guess). But I'm not quite used to writing threesomes quite yet, so I'm a bit scared that I will mess it up in this story, which I don't really want to happen.**

**Ghostwriter71: I promise you that I have nothing against Irish people xD**

**I am in Loki's Army: Sometimes, I think my foreshadowing is too much 'SLAP IN THE FACE PLOT' but eh. And because they're stupid-heads of course. Also there needs to be a more recent reason for the Romanian v. Volturi hatred. And the Irish coven were a bit too perfect to me, so I decided to let them remain that perfect, because I would have easily found a flaw if I wanted to. I just didn't want to.**

**Alice (Guest): Much logic. Such wow. Also I hesitate to call them 'vegetarians' and when I read that I just imagined Robert Pattinson drinking the juices out of a head of lettuce. I can't take the Cullens seriously just for that. And Maggie is quite a bit lost after their deaths. And since I don't plan to overly explain the cloak system until this story ends, the white-cloaks are the guards that don't leave the castle. It's a symbol of 'we didn't have anything to do with any violence'. Also your premonition is too good dangit.**

**YunaNeko: THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUAL SUPPORT**

* * *

The Cullens had recovered from their surprise visit from the Volturi. Rather than stay at Forks, they moved on, leaving Washington quietly for other states, promising themselves to return to the Pacific Northwest as soon as possible. They were in Massachusetts when their lives changed again.

A pixie and a war veteran floated into their lives, the pixie dragging the other. She saw him as a mate. He knew she wasn't his. But why not play with her the way that Maria had taught him to play with others? It was fun to watch her pout when he didn't let her dress him up like a fucking _doll_ or didn't 'make love' to her or whatever. He never wanted to touch her more than necessary, though kissing seemed to be necessary to placate the little beast.

The other coven members tried to make him be more affectionate to her, thinking that his rough past was to blame for the lack of care he seemed to show. The only one who might have known what was the mind-reader, who Jasper never bothered to learn the name or, much less talk to, and even he didn't seem to care about their relationship. He seemed to sulk and exuded hatred whenever Jasper walked into the room.

The former major knew why, as well. He proudly donned red eyes, unabashedly lying to the coven leader that he had slipped without a single drop of remorse or guilt, that he wasn't used to the animal blood lifestyle, that he'd try again. And the fool, the bleeder of the heart, believed him every time, just telling Jasper sternly that 'this is the _last _time I'm warning you, son, if you slip again the Volturi might find us. We don't want that.'

Jasper didn't understand why this coven seemed to hate the ruling vampires. He knew that the kings gave a wonderful show of being as horrible as what the nomads whispered, but those words weren't true at all. The Volturi kept the peace behind the rumors; they used stories as subterfuge to quietly fix small things. Jane gained a reputation as a sadist, which she seemed to indulge whenever she wanted to, from what Jasper heard. Her brother wasn't as interesting to others, apparently. And most of the other guards were shrouded in secrecy, except for that accursed Chelsea, as Carlisle called her, the one that could split ties.

He wished he had that gift. Maybe then, Alice would leave him alone and he could leave this stupid coven. He didn't understand why he decided to stay with them for so long. Maybe he felt bad for them or something. Maybe he could just sense how much they were like walking bombs of emotions, and that if he left them, they would explode all over each other.

He knew only one thing. He couldn't stand another day surrounded by human teenagers, with their disgusting outward odors, entrancing blood, and petty problems, three things that the vampire teenagers he was forced around seemed to adopt. Rosalie and Emmett seemed more sensible, though Rosalie had some odd obsession with becoming human again. Something about wanting a child, something that only a human mother could birth and truly call her own.

But didn't she know of the best kept secret of vampires, of bonds? Didn't she know of parental bonds, the a_mor parentis_?

* * *

"_A__mor parentis_?" Isabella pronounced the Latin carefully, the words flowing off of her tongue.

Marcus nodded, a smile gracing his lips. "Yes, I do believe that our harshest king has created this tie with the one called Margaret."

Isabella's perplexed smile slid into a slight frown. "I don't think she wants to keep that connection with her past. It brings up too many bad memories for her." Isabella thought painfully of the once happy and upbeat vampire, who would cheerfully say, "You're lying!" in a singsong voice. Seeing the hollow look in Maggie's eyes showed that she had died on the inside, that she wasn't that innocent, naive girl anymore.

Marcus sighed and closed his eyes. "I thought that she might. It's something that vampires tend to do. When they leave a painful part of their existence behind, they choose to take on a new name in order to show how they have turned another stone in their existence. It's almost common practice, like how Chelsea chose to change her name from Charmion after escaping being a slave and joining our guard."

Isabella let out a hum of affirmation, staring straight at the sky. "I guess that some vampires choose to change their names more drastically depending on how much pain they went through?"

"You could say that," Marcus said in a low voice.

"Do you know what name she chose for herself?" Isabella knew what his answer would be; she hadn't seen him leave the room after the impromptu meeting with the fiery-haired vampire. He had walked into the room at least two full days ago, and he hadn't reemerged. Didyme had walked into the office herself, completely exasperated.

"I do not, Isabella. Would you care to enlighten me?"

Isabella's lip curled up into a smirk. "She's chosen to be called Maisie."

Marcus's eyes slid to meet Isabella's expression. It spoke of challenge, arrogance. He knew it was mostly an act. He sighed and put down the quill he had been using (why he didn't use a pen or even a typewriter like Caius had adapted to, Isabella had no idea) and shoved some of his papers away.

"Is there a specific reason you chose to come to me about this?" Marcus asked with an amused huff.

Isabella just chuckled and shook her head. "I thought you liked learning what went on in the Castle while you're stuck in this room.

Marcus merely shook his head and rearranged his papers neatly in front of him again. "As much as I do, I'm not sure what Maisie's name has to do with anything now."

"Just wanted to make sure there isn't any drama behind you and her. You seemed skeptical of her when she came. Then you were extremely happy, delighted, I must say. It was odd to see such drastic mood changes."

Marcus smiled more broadly now, his red eyes giving away his nostalgia. "Athena. She's always wanted a child, though she swore to be chaste to serve her namesake as a priestess. Now she gets what she wants. It's almost poetic, I'd say." His eyes misted. "Didyme longed for the same, once. I don't know if she still wishes for a child."

Isabella said nothing, merely regressing into thought and walking out of the room, distracted.

* * *

"Jasper! We need to go hunting again!"

The blond in question bit a lip to hold back a sharp retort and sighed to himself before cloaking himself in fake love and turning to the black-haired vampire that was rushing towards him and preparing to leap into his arms. Jasper caught her and imitated her tight embrace, grateful that she couldn't see the disgusted expression he wasn't quite able to get rid of quickly enough. He thanked whatever deity was watching over him that another Cullen (he sneered at the mere thought of them) didn't approach.

Alice let go of Jasper and danced backwards, her golden eyes alight with empty mischief and petty happiness. _Smile, Alice, smile_, Jasper thought, letting a sullen expression fall across his face. _No one else will smile for you, after all._

Her smile faltered slightly. "Jasper, didn't you hear what I said? Hunting! Fun! Trees and grass and moss and rivers and animals! Elk or lions, moose or bears! Doesn't it sound simply wonderful?" Without waiting for a response, Alice giggled, twirled on a foot, and drifted off, looking all in the world like a twitchy bird. _She _is _one twitchy bird, though,_ Jasper thought to himself, smirking at his little wordplay. He hadn't let her touch him besides the kisses that she forced upon him, and he wondered why it was taking her so long to realize that he _didn't like her_. He didn't think she was his mate at all. She couldn't possibly be, for he never wanted to be around her, no matter how much she clung to him.

"Come on, Jazz!"

"Don't call me that!" Jasper snarled back. Alice always found a way to sneak in that nickname for him, knowing that he would anger but thinking that it was a teasing sort of anger. He always hid how much loathing he felt for this girl, the girl that was spoiled by the Cullens (damn those fuckers) for her apparently singular gift.

He wasn't as stupid. He knew that her premonitions weren't much to look at. Many humans had flashes of their future in dreams; if not, why did the phrase _déjà vu_ become so popular, so overused in the world? Those that were stuck in dreams were once destroyed as insane or died from their own carelessness. Now, the human world was evolving to leave no one behind to die in any way besides natural causes, and those with the premonition were kept alive. And when they bred, they bore children that had stronger omens. It was kind of freaky, actually.

And the venom had chosen this not-so-interesting gift to accent? If she was so featureless that only that annoyingly, stupidly optimistic personality and this common gift were magnified, then what the hell kind of a human was Mary Alice Brandon? Of course he knew who she was as well; he had seen the LOST, WANTED and MISSING signs after the nineteen-year-old girl disappeared from the asylum she had been caged in. Just because Jasper feigned ignorance didn't make him actually ignorant.

Jasper wondered how the Cullens had managed to avoid seeing the missing person signs themselves. He began to ignore them after a rudimentary glance. Maybe they had too. Maybe they completely forgot their human roots the way he didn't. He was the one supplying his body with the blood that it needed to stay fully functional, after all. Animal blood had a specific substance in it that built up in a vampire's system and could essentially suffocate the vampire in question after long-term exposure. It could take almost a millennium, he estimated.

But hey, he wasn't the one poisoning himself, now was he?

* * *

"JOHN!"

The vampire chuckled to himself as he shot through the Castle's halls, running as fast as his legs would let him. Pursuing him was a drenched Lenna, covered in what appeared to be milk carefully dyed a radioactive, unnatural, lurid shade of green. Her eyes glimmered red, her lips curled back in a grotesque, steely sneer, and her black clothes covered in rapidly drying liquid. John gave a slightly maniacal laugh as he raced through the hallways.

Meanwhile, a newly named Maisie had been wandering the halls, trying to get herself more used to the new clothes she had. The black-haired king, sir Aro, had explained that the white cloak she wore signified that she was protected by the guard and that she would not be entering combat. This put her with guards such as Chelsea, Corin, Reina, and Renata, all of whom had welcomed her into their little troupe with open arms. Now, Maisie glanced up at the unearthly noise John let out, tugging at her white cloak, and froze in her tracks in the middle of the hallway. She was completely lost in what to do as a golden-eyed vampire raced towards her.

"MAISIE! MOVE! NOW!" John yelled at her, but she was still frozen. Right before he was about to crash into her, John leaped in the air, somersaulted, and transformed into a bird before flipping over and flying back where he came from. Lenna stopped running immediately, her red eyes following John's flitting form. She let out a loud groan as she forced herself to spin around and race after the disappearing speck.

"JOHN, GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Lenna screeched, tearing after the swift. "SO HELP ME GOD, THIS BETTER NOT HAVE YOUR OWN MILK IN IT, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

John had landed in his human form again and was sprinting again. "OR WHAT?!" he shouted in response. "ARE YOU GOING TO LAP IT UP LIKE A LITTLE CAT, LEN? IS THAT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT?"

Lenna growled, running ever so slightly faster. "I'LL MAKE YOU LAP THIS SHIT UP IS WHAT I'LL MAKE YOU DO, DIRTY LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!" She extended her hand and a small twinge seemed to jump out of her hand and trip John up slightly. The last that the small fiery-haired guard they both seemed to forget about could see was John almost getting caught before dancing out of Lenna's grasp, egging her on with taunts and jibes.

Maisie blinked. She had never thought that something like this would have happened in the heart of vampiric government. She had imagined somber faces and frightened souls. Instead, she got a prankster that could inevitably change form and had no qualms with tricking the other guards and a guard who did not particularly like being a victim of the previously mentioned pranks.

Maisie just shook her head and decided to continue walking, pretending that she didn't see what she just saw.

* * *

Jasper's lip curled again. Honestly, he was surprised that his face hadn't been stuck in this form for so long. It wasn't Alice's doing this time, either, though all of her spontaneous shopping trips were literal hell on earth to him. He had no wish to hold ten bags of fucking _dresses_ just for her to wear them once and throw them out. The toys, even the soldiers would have longed for even one of those bags, but his little parasite was always just 'donating' them. She didn't know that the clothes were barely reused after her dumping them, and she obviously didn't know just how many were probably shredded to be reused somewhere else in a more useful, utilitarian way.

Evil, thy name is woman, or something. Because all of the blondes surrounding him were _annoying as fuck_. Who let those three succubi exist, anyhow? No one needed three sex-driven women in one place, never mind vampires complete with compulsion. _Ugh_.

They had gone to visit the Cullens' _cousins_ in Alaska. Tanya, Irina, Kate. Apparently, two more joined since the Cullens had last visited, a male named Eleazar and a female named Carmen, both mated. Jasper could feel the passionate tenderness between the two before they even opened their mouths. He was completely jealous of the two of them.

Eleazar had also been a part of the Volturi, and when Jasper managed to get him alone and out of earshot of the other vampires, he was able to confirm his suspicions on the Volturi. He heard how Carlisle had apparently managed to step on every single guard's toes while he was graciously allowed to stay in Volturi Castle to continue his studies, the foolish male. He didn't even seem to know the idea of what subtlety was supposed to be, poking his nose where it didn't belong and trying to 'reform' the guards, who obviously just entertained him or were annoyed by him. He didn't belong there himself. He never should have gone to the Volturi and gotten on their bad side.

And Jasper admired them all the more for their subtle tactics. He only wished that he could go and talk to the vampires that Eleazar named. Apparently, one guard sent the occasional letter to the three sisters that were (begrudgingly) putting up with the Olympia coven after having to comfort the sisters when their sire was destroyed for exposing the race. Eleazar told Jasper that, despite their currently golden eyes, Tanya, Irina, and Kate drank human blood whenever they could without alerting Carlisle. They hated how the animal's blood diluted their passion and sex drive, apparently. As Jasper inferred it would (he was stupidly proud of himself for this discovery, one he didn't need another's confirmation of). Eleazar had apparently been somewhat informally inducted into one of the more 'elite' of the inner circles. Like any group larger than ten, the vampires within the Castle had sorted themselves out into their own, for lack of a better word, cliques. One in particular was very choosy about its members, but once you entered, you remained their friend for the rest of your existence. Carmen and Eleazar kept up their connection to this group via letters, and Eleazar even showed Jasper one of them, from a guard named Demetri.

Jasper yearned to join in this group, which seemed to be rational and bonded by mutual like and respect. Not like the mismatched Cullens, kept together because of the empathy that Carlisle seemed to inspire by his 'innocent, caring, compassionate' mask.

* * *

"Master Caius?"

The white-haired king flinched. He was hoping it wouldn't come to this so soon.

Maisie stood in front of him, her hair somehow contained in a neat ponytail, cloak evenly distributed over her shoulders. Her black clothes were stiff and immaculate. If Caius didn't know any better, he'd think that she was preparing for an important occasion; an important trial, perhaps, or maybe a crucial execution.

Then again, maybe this was a serious occasion for her.

"What is it, Maisie?" he asked, trying to sound impartial and unfeeling. It hurt him to do this, something that still bewildered him. Since when did he sympathize with his guards so much?

It seemed to hurt her too, seeing as she flinched and seemed to shrink into herself. Impulsively, Caius reached a hand across his desk and took hers. "Maisie, look at me," he said sternly. He faltered over his words, but steeled himself and continued on. "What is it?"

"It-it's just that I see ye as somethin' ye obviously don't see me as," she mumbled, her brogue slipping slightly. Her head ducked down, shoving the lower half of her face into the white cloth of her cloak. Caius felt something within him drop like a stone. He didn't want to see this girl seem so vulnerable, especially because of something he said or did.

"Maisie, what are you talking about?" he asked, almost gently. Almost. He had a reputation to uphold.

"It's odd, y'see," she said, her words muffled by the cloak. "I think of ye as somethin' akin to Liam, but I don't want te joke with ye or nothin'. I want te impress ye or sommat. 'M not quite sure m'self. And Miss Athenodora, I want her to-to..."

"Want her to..?" he repeated after her, expecting her to finish her words.

"Approve. Like me. L-love me," she managed to say, her red eyes pleading with him for forgiveness, for compassion. Caius sighed and stood up. His white-blond hair had been tied back by a ribbon slightly, but he could feel that a few strands escaped the tie. He walked around his desk slowly, not turning to meet Maisie, but walking on to close the door quietly.

His back was to her, his cloak hung on the door handle. He was wearing a dark red shirt that he smoothed out slightly, wondering what to say to this girl. He didn't want to drop the bombshell that Marcus told him onto her, fearing that she would crumble even further.

Maisie awaited his judgment. He awaited the right moment.

Finally, Caius sighed and turned around, his back leaning against the door. Maisie was startled by the look in his eyes. Exasperation and... caring? She wasn't quite sure. It was a foreign expression to her, but it made her feel warm inside.

Caius gestured for her to stand next to him, which she obeyed instantly. To her shock, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and directed her towards another room attached to his office. The room was more of a lounge, with darker wood flooring and a couple of beautiful tapestries detailing images from _The Odyssey_ and _The Iliad_, in particular the slaughter of the suitors and Athena's influence over the heroes. There was a table with a single lamp on it, covered in paintings and tiny carvings complete with the most minute of details. He led her through the doorway to a chair next to a couple of bookshelves filled with books that detailed strategy and novels of war. Maisie was also surprised to see a copy of _Watership Down_ on the shelves.

Caius followed her eyes and scoffed at the book quietly. When she turned back to him, he told her, "Isabella got me that, told me that it would interest me. Trust me, I don't care at all for rabbits and destroyed warrens and whatnot. I'm definitely thinking it was more of a, how do you call it, gag gift."

She nodded, not knowing what else to do. Caius was sitting in the chair she had noticed, and she felt the urge to walk up right in front of him so that she could look him in the eyes, an urge she obeyed blindly.

Caius grimaced a bit, looking thoughtful. "I'm not sure how I can say this without surprising you too much," he began, and she began to tense up. _Does he hate me? Does he not want me? Does he want me to forget him, too?_ Questions raced through her mind, not helping her overall anxiety levels.

The king watched the girl panic, and he gave her another stern look. "Maisie, I won't have you panicking anymore, not now and not ever," he scolded gently. She lowered her head, despair streaking through her being. She seemed totally and completely broken at that one moment.

"Maisie, look at me," Caius said, waiting for her to lift her head up. When she didn't, he sighed and forced her to look at him by tilting her head up. He looked directly into her darkening crimson eyes.

"Maisie, Marcus has told me of a peculiar bond he's seen. He says it only happens if a female yearns for a child and her wish never falters for centuries. It's called the parental bond. A certain person is changed for the purpose of becoming this female and her chosen mate's child. Do you hear me?"

Maisie nodded, not understanding what the king was getting at.

"Well, Athenodora has been desperately wanting a child. And you have arrived. The feelings you have towards us may be a consequence of this parental bond. You want to impress us. You want us to love you, protect you, sanction you, support you. Are my words true?"

The girl looked overwhelmed, and it was a full seventeen seconds before she could muster the energy to nod.

Caius broke into a grin now, a kinder one than she would have expected from the king.

"Well then, my dear girl, that means that you are the equivalent of our child now, doesn't it?"

Maisie's vision fogged from the venom that welled up in them, and she let out a small sob of happiness. Caius immediately stood up and embraced his newly claimed daughter. Maisie responded just as enthusiastically, squeezing Caius as hard as possible, feeling herself begin to mend. Siobhan and Liam would always be a constant ache in her core, two figures that would never leave her, but her new parents would be more than worthy. She felt her despair from only a few moments ago begin to leach out.

Caius smiled more fully now.

"Well, go find your mother then, and tell her that I told you."

Maisie nodded excitedly, her eyes showing that she was a little more complete now. She made to dart out of the room when she hesitated and turned back to her father. _Her father_. It sounded as wonderful as she thought it was.

"Erm, father?" she tried out. Caius's eyes lit up slightly at the title. She giggled to herself. "Can I call you that from now on?"

Caius nodded. "But when we're with outsiders, it will probably be better to call me 'Master' or 'sir' just to throw them off. We don't want everyone pursuing the parental bond, no matter how impossible that is."

Maisie nodded in agreement before throwing open the door of the inner room, and then the office, and running down the hallway, ready to embrace her mother.

* * *

_**Amant enim a parente:**_**Latin for 'love of a parent', I believe.**

**So Jasper has now joined the Cullens. Poor wretch. And Maggie has renamed herself. I read about Chelsea/Charmion and this became a thing.**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	40. Syzygy: Dusk

**For those of you curious as to how I develop my characters, if there happens to be a movie based on the series I'm writing for, I tend to incorporate the actors' actual personalities into my version of them. So, of course, when I found a video of Jamie Campbell Bower with at least three piercings and a tattoo kneeling in front of a microphone, playing a guitar, and singing an original song while perusing the videos YouTube thoughtfully suggested for me, my mind naturally made Caius into a character with a warm heart towards Maisie and Athenodora, though others won't ever see that side of him. And I felt like incorporating Caius into the story more because of it. I don't know, I just seem to like vicious/sadistic/crazy characters. Hence my appreciation for Caius, Alec, and Jane. Agh.**

**OKAY RAMBLING OVER.**

** s:**

**Arabella Whitlock: Thanks :D**

**I am in Loki's Army: I always wondered about that. Was the war not that violent or something? The only scars he had in the books were visible ones. There ought to be a few scars on his personality as well, no? also NOT THE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS D:**

**Maiannaise: Cutesy things are my specialty. (notreally)**

**MoonPrincess623: The parental bond is an important one in this story yes. And Jasper will get his revenge soon, you will see~**

**rinlovesyou: I already said something about this a couple of chapters ago.**

**Alice (Guest): (I nearly put you down as 'Guest' oops) I drew a little doodle of the Cullens consuming various vegetables in that manner. Maybe I'll put them on that webcomic/extras thing that I haven't updated in a while. I have a lot of little things from this story that I'm planning on uploading en masse later so... and Jasper was always a character I loved to see, but he was almost wasted in the books to me. HE HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL. H. And the Denali coven is all about PEACE MAN so they're a bit less rigid than the Volturi were, and they do whatever they need to to keep the peace with the Olympia coven. And Maisie/Athena/Caius was kind of spur-of-the-moment but I don't regret a single thing about it nope. Maisie needed someone to be her rock, and Caius was the first person/vampire/whatever that I thought of, though I blame the video that I mentioned above for that. And YES MOCKERY YAS. Timewise, last chapter ended somewhere in late 1950s/early 1960s, and there is one last section from the twentieth century mentioned here and then it's twenty-first century. And I did try my best with those alternating things to bring Jasper more into the forefront, as he will be rather important in this story. And UGH YOU PSYCHICS YOU. JASPER SAYS YOU'RE RUN OF THE MILL :P**

**blueeyestx12: Hey, you seem new :D Welcome~ Also, I tend to write really fast, so I delay updates by a day so that I have more time to formulate chapters.**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Isn't he?**

**YunaNeko: You have the same comment every time xD THANKS!**

* * *

"Leaving?" she squeaked. "No, Jazz, we can't leave yet! It's only been ten years! Just one decade with them! They're our family, Carlisle and Edward and Esme and Rosalie and Emmett, they're our family, our _family_! The ones we are meant to love and grow with! We can't just _leave_ them, Jazz, come on!"

"I never said that _we_ were leaving, Al," Jasper said, purposefully using Alice's least favorite nickname. If only she knew what else he called her in the secret recesses of his mind. He waited until her confusion was palpable to anyone who was around her, not just him, until her expression because comically quizzical, completely unknowing. He would relish the next few moments for the rest of his existence, he knew that. "I said that _I_ was leaving. There is a difference."

"But where you go, I have to go! That's what the mating pull dictates, and I don't want to go yet," Alice said, pouting. Jasper thought she looked like a frog that some kid had decided to step on, her lower lip exaggeratedly sticking out. She didn't understand how unattractive she looked, did she? She thought she was a little angel, didn't she. Fucking pixie.

"Ah, Al, that's where you're wrong again, you little wench." His mouth relished the final word, and his conscience sang at the justice that Alice was receiving. She looked as though he had slapped her in the face. Helpless confusion rang out on her face. _Good_.

"_What_ did you call me, Jazz?" she asked, dazed. She didn't understand his words, much less why he was calling her such an unattractive thing. Mates couldn't harm their mates, right, even indirectly? The words that Jasper uttered were cutting her, and he should have known before saying them at all. Why was he saying them? They weren't nice, they wouldn't be nice to anyone.

"You're not my mate," Jasper said bluntly, his cold eyes watching as she seemed to crumble in shock right in front of him. _Serves the bitch right, _his inner demon crowed, elated at his final victory. He knew that he was just as smug as it was. "I never loved you, didn't Eddie tell you? Oh right, he didn't since he never pays attention to shit 'cause of these." He pointed at his red eyes, which she glanced at and flinched at. She flinched at the idea that he murdered humans, not knowing that he was trained to cull the criminals and forgettables, the prostitutes and the drug dealers. "Well then, see you later, mundane." The worst insult to someone who thought she was so goddamn special. He had plotted out his exact speech and recited it word for word, and he internally high-fived himself for doing so.

He turned from her immobilized form and staunchly walked away with his head held up high, not once looking back at her crumpled form. He wondered how long it would take for her to notice that he wasn't wearing the clothes that she bought for him, but the old clothes he had been wearing that day that she had cornered him at the café he stopped by for a rest. His cowboy-style boots were back, as was the hat he had always worn, and the black vest, red flannel, and jeans. He had loved who he used to be and dress, so why not go back to them? She must have thought he got rid of them or something. Idiot bitch.

A figure blurred up next to him and threatened to throw him to the side, but Jasper saw the move coming from a mile away and grabbed the attacker's arm and nonchalantly twisted it behind him. Edward hissed in pain and struggled to escape Jasper's iron grip, only freezing when he heard and felt himself creak. Jasper had assumed that he was eavesdropping through their thoughts, or, more specifically, Alice's. The guy's gift was way too easy to defend against, though that might be Jasper's military strategy mind coming out. Edward began to thrash about, feeling the smugness that Jasper felt and radiating intense repulsion.

_Foolish idiot,_ Jasper thought, effortlessly bringing up every ounce of hatred he thought about and felt towards the Olympia coven and shoveling the emotion straight into Edward. The eternal seventeen-year-old crumpled to the ground and began screaming in agony, incapable of taking the pain as wordlessly as Jasper himself had. Jasper threw him to the ground, moaning.

Jasper snorted in derision before walking on, out of city limits. He didn't want to stay in this city in the North. He was a member of the Confederacy, born and raised, after all. He thought a moment and nodded to himself. Yes, he would return to the South and rejoin the coven that he had wandered away from for just one week.

Just one week. That's what he told them. _I need to get away from y'all's matedness. Y'all ain't that good at hidin' it. Y'all're just depressin' me as it is. _A playful wink, running away with his tongue dangling from his mouth as Peter and Charlotte threw obscenities and rocks at his retreating back. He had rejoined the two vampires after leaving Maria, was welcomed with open arms, and ended up leading the coven for decades until that little bitch-pixie took him away. He hated that wench.

Jasper nodded to himself. He would find his little group again and rejoin them. Yes. After all, it's just been a week.

* * *

"Excuse me, sir Aro?"

Aro had been walking to a garden to meet his wife, but he gave Maisie a friendly look and stopped to talk to her. "Yes, Maisie, what is it?"

The red-haired guard felt his truthful curiosity and gave him an apologetic look for interrupting his little jaunt. "It's Reina. She says she has to talk to you immediately. Something about new developments."

Aro's friendly expression turned into a serious, contemplative one. "Did she, now? Maisie, dear, if you would go to the southern gardens and inform my Sulpicia that I won't be along for a few minutes, I would much appreciate that. I will go see Reina right now."

Maisie bowed in respect and continued walking off where Aro had been headed while the king redirected his own steps to go to the game room that the white-cloaks seemed to favor. He walked into the marble room and immediately spotted Reina sitting on a wooden table in the middle of the room.

She seemed to know that he had arrived and spun around on her bottom to face him, her feet now on top of the table. Her face was completely blank yet her eyes gave away her serenity.

"Reina?" Aro asked cautiously. "You asked Maisie to fetch me?"

"I asked Renata too as well, just off in a different direction," she said with a dismissive hand gesture, her hair resembling the exact shade of human blood in the lighting. "But yes. I needed to see you. Fate is about to begin unwinding what it's been teasing me with."

"Oh really? Pray, tell. Or, perhaps, just show me," Aro said with an excited glimmer in his eyes.

"I've only seen a few more snippets," Reina warned him as she held out an ivory hand. Aro hummed out an understanding note and took it.

He saw Carlisle studying medicine. A woman with caramel-colored hair examining a dilapidated white house. A bronze-haired teenager with golden eyes, perhaps one of Carlisle's converts, greeting a brunette. The brunette had brown eyes, signifying that she was a human. She wasn't anything special, it seemed; her lips were asymmetrical, her eyes too large to be seen as cute, her nose slightly crooked, her skin impossibly pale for a human, almost transparent. The brunette was gazing at the bronze-haired male with wide, almost worshipping eyes.

A truck slid on ice. They must be in one of their homes that had harsh winters. The black vehicle raced towards the brunette, who was frozen and gaping like a fish out of water. The bronze-haired boy threw himself out of a group of three other teenagers (all with gold eyes. Honestly, why was Carlisle sending such impulsive souls into a place surrounded by other impulsive creatures? It was a disaster waiting to happen) and in front of the girl, stopping the truck with a hand. Stupid little boy, just exposing them to the child. A forest? The boy exposing his flesh (stupidstupidSTUPIDLITTLEBRAT) and the girl seeming to begin fawning over him more, if possible.

Taking her to 'meet the parents'? What the hell? Vampires cooking? Animal-blooded vampires without the capacity to force their bodies to digest human food again? Aro had long since discovered that human blood gave back the capacity to digest food, albeit not by that much, and that the venom would invade the rest and turn it into venom in its stead. He didn't question the workings of his body at all. He just knew that it helped during all of those mandatory dinners with other politicians.

And he saw three red-eyed vampires approaching the Cullens, who had the human with them and were also wearing... baseball uniforms? And one stared at the human, hungering for her blood. And there was a chase through shadowy places and small, sterile white environs and-

Reina let go of his hand. "The pieces have been set, and the game begun," she said, smoothing out her shirt in order to hide her nervousness. Aro merely nodded to her and swept out of the room.

To be honest, he expected as much. He didn't think that the animal-blood drinkers would be able to hold themselves back from hungering after humans, both thirst-wise and lust-wise. They were always stupid, after all, and they weren't to be tamed by the blood of an elk or mountain lion or whatever the way they thought they were. They were endangering the local populations of wild animals, if nothing else. Idiots. And now Carlisle had five of them (he didn't recognize one of the ones by the car from Jane's mental image) under his influence?

Sometimes, he didn't understand how such a bright man was so unbelievably thick.

* * *

Carlisle listened to his adoptive son rant about the new human. His singer.

"Her thoughts are always protected by her mind, I can't read her! Do you know how frustrating that can be? Wait, never mind, the only one who'd be able to tell left us like fifty years ago," Edward groused. "And Carlisle, her scent, it's so _divine_, I can't stop thinking about it, it's like roses and blood and strawberries and other things, and I want to drink her so badly but I have to hold back because if I took her, it would just result in complete pandemonium and I would expose us and the Volturi would come again and UGH!" he ended his monologue with an exasperated grunt and punched the fragile wall. The glass shattered at the action.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!" Esme scolded, staring mournfully at the ruined window, but Edward didn't even look at her, his eyes looking both sulky and dark as he kicked the floor.

"Edward, acknowledge your mother when she talks to you," Carlisle said mildly. He had stopped paying attention to his son's rant after 'fifty years ago'. Edward gave his adoptive father a murderous look before turning and muttering a "sorry," to Esme, who huffed at his insolence but offered him a reluctant smile. She would always forgive him, no matter how childish he was acting. It was just how her son was.

"Edward, if you can't handle yourself around your singer, maybe you should go back to Denali and ask them for help," Rosalie said in a saccharine manner. In all honesty, she wouldn't really care if Edward never came back. He always walked around as though he had a stick up his ass, and she really didn't like his attitude most of the time.

Edward growled at her thoughts, to which she responded with an angelic smile.

"At least I didn't go on a rampage and drink my singer the way your precious mate did," he snarled triumphantly to Rosalie. It gave the wanted reaction: her eyes darkened and she began to spit threats at him as Emmett held her back. To be sure, the larger vampire didn't appreciate the bronze-haired vampire's digs, but he knew that Edward was just changed as his mind matured and that he hadn't completed the maturation process.

Edward gave him a disgusted look. Emmett raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Children, please," Carlisle called out exasperatedly. He looked at his final child, a daughter who was still hung up on her mate's cold-hearted departure. How he had torn her apart without much more than a second glance, Carlisle would never know. "Alice, do you see..?"

"No, Carlisle, I don't," she snapped back. She was once so innocent, so bubbly, so happy. What happened? Oh yeah, _her mate left her_. The fucking pansy dickhead.

"Language, Alice!" Edward repudiated.

"Fuck, cunt, bitch, shit, ass, dick, crap, bullshit, son of a bitch, bastard, asshat, fuckwad, motherfucker, queef, dumbass," she rattled off in response, glaring straight at Edward before getting up and flouncing to her room with a huff. The rest of the Cullen coven just blinked in shock. Alice had never been so grumpy, even right after Jasper left so frigidly.

"ALICE!" Edward finally got his voice back and managed to regain his composure enough to keep scolding her.

"FUCK YOU, SON OF A GODDAMN BITCH! I HOPE YOU FUCKING _DO_ GO TO HELL, BASTARD! ALL OF YOU NEED TO FUCK OUT OF MY LIFE AND SIT YOUR FAT ASSES DOWN AND LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE, MOTHERFUCKERS!" Alice screeched back. Her voice was muffled by a closed door.

Edward's jaw dropped and he looked ready to run up the stairs and shut Alice's mouth for her. Carlisle stopped him in time and said, "I need to know one more thing, son. What is your singer's name? We all need to keep an eye out for her."

The apparent-teenager sighed and rubbed his temples. "Kristen," he finally said. "Kristen Marie Swan. The chief's daughter."

* * *

Isabella wasn't sure what to make of the news that Aro gave her, apart from _intense, utter hatred_ directed at Carlisle and his precious little followers. Did the idiot even know how much he was ruining fate now, just by forcing others into his lifestyle? The Southern Wars may have quieted down, but there was too much going on in America still. Good grief.

She realized that she was gripping her book too hard and that the pages were about to rip. She immediately loosened her fingers and sighed. She was trying to read in her room again. Usually, she gained quite a few hours of peace in going out into Volterra to buy the books in whatever language she felt like at the time and returning to the Castle to read and analyze the characters, settings, themes, tones, or whatever else she felt like. Today, she had brought home an English copy of _The Things They Carried_. It was apparently some sort of novel that was written as though a memoir by the author. One chapter even talked about how the book was a work of fiction, but how that didn't mean it wasn't true. The guy talked about not really killing someone that he knew he killed, though he physically didn't. It was confusing and roundabout. Maybe this guy was a vampire.

Sometimes, the books she chose to read seemed to make fun of her life. Her life that seemed truth yet fiction.

Isabella sighed again and found some space in her overflowing bookshelf in which to shove the book into. She promised to herself that she would bring it back out later and read it when she had a calmer mind.

Whenever that was.

She drifted over to the piano again. Jane and Alec had found some piece by a not-well-known composer named Farrenc that featured their respective instruments and had asked Isabella to learn the piano part so that they could play together. It took them a bit of wheedling to get her to do it, but she had thrown her hands in the air at the end and sighed and agreed.

It was a beautiful piece, she didn't deny that. To be honest, she didn't have any reservations against the piece herself. It was just the fact that they wanted her to learn it now, of all times. It wasn't a good time to start a new piece. She was a bit nervous.

Then again, when _was_ a good time for anything? She chuckled to herself and ran her hands through a scale. She didn't know which one it was, but she just made herself go through the motions of playing all of the associated modes. Ionian, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian, locrian. Such beautiful, pointless Greek names. Isabella watched her fingers move with slight interest before sighing and letting herself wind down.

She shook her head and walked out of her room. She didn't have enough concentration to try and play through this piece. She wandered down the hallway and into the game room that she and her siblings tended to gather. She passed Felix's room on the way and couldn't resist shouting out a suggestive remark when she heard Heidi's voice inside as well. They responded with boisterous laughter and crude remarks right back. She was still smirking when she entered the game room.

No one was there, as she suspected. She knew that the twins were off, either serving their respective kings or hunting. She hadn't talked to them in a couple of days. She felt a bit empty on the inside from that. Isabella settled herself into one of the chairs and closed her eyes, mimicking slumber. She let her imagination and memories go and watched them weave themselves back and forth, bringing forth things she didn't remember. Her human life, running into the forest to gather up wood to barter. Jane and Alec fighting over almonds, of all things. Going hungry so her siblings didn't. Foraging when worst came to worst. The execution. Her revenge on the clergy. Meeting the kings, joining the guard, executing those who exposed their species until all feared the guards that willingly carried out their kings' orders. She relived it all as she sat, head tilted back and eyes closed.

"Miss Isabella?"

And she was thrown back into the present. She opened her eyes to see Maisie standing in the doorway looking concerned.

"Yes, Maisie, what is it?" Isabella asked, standing up from the chair.

"It-it's not much, father just wanted to see you about something, I'm sorry for disturbing you, I can tell him that you want some peace and-"

Isabella cut off her babbling. "Maisie," she said gently but firmly. "I'm perfectly fine. I can go see him if I must."

The red-haired vampire shut her mouth and nodded vigorously, taking Isabella's arm and tugging it along. Isabella followed the insistent girl to a separate doorway leading to a smaller library. From her experience, she knew that this specific library held all of the ancient texts that were written in Greek and Latin, both languages that she knew Caius was trying to teach his new daughter.

The white-haired king himself was standing in front of one of the shelves, reading a text. He seemed distracted by this work, as he didn't even turn around when the two females walked in.

"Sir?" Isabella called out. Caius's head lifted up and he turned to look at Isabella and Maisie in the doorway.

"Ah, Isabella," Caius said, closing the book in his hand deftly. She noticed the title now; it looked like a collection of myths that had been bound by a vampire after the scrolls were collected. On the front she could barely make out a faded picture of the twelve Olympian gods.

"Maisie said you wanted me to come talk to you?" she asked, the end of her statement sounding more high-pitched than the rest.

Caius blinked before chuckling to himself.

"Ah, yes, I did. I nearly forgot, somehow."

Isabella raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "Our kind doesn't forget this kind of thing, sir."

"Since when were you so respectful to me? It's been a while since you last called me blatantly 'Caius,' " Caius shook his head in amusement. "No, Athena's been distracted for whatever reason and I am not exactly the most patient person in the world."

"Understatement of the recently-begun century, _Caius_," Isabella interrupted, rolling her eyes. Maisie giggled from next to her, admiring the older vampire's complete lack of discipline around her father.

"Girls, please," Caius added, sounding weary. "Isabella, I wanted to ask if you would mind teaching Maisie the arcane languages. The ancient ones that are practically dead."

"All of them, sir?" she asked slyly.

Caius rolled his eyes, much to their amusement. "Whichever you see fit, Isabella."

"Sir, you do know that I am fluent in French, English, Old English, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Canadian French, a little bit of Sumerian of all things, Arabic, and German, and that I can read almost any written language?" Isabella raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you want Maisie to know?"

"Well, Miss Show-off, it would be best to ask her, wouldn't it? And I bet Maisie is a bit versed in other languages that you don't quite know yet?" Caius gave a triumphant smirk, knowing that Isabella was a bit of a linguist.

Isabella just sighed dramatically, though Caius and Maisie both knew that she already agreed internally. "Well, sir king, I'm going to just have to agree then, aren't I?" she proclaimed, raising a hand to her forehead and striking a dramatic pose.

Caius just shook his head at her faux histrionics. "Honestly, you spend too much time around humans, Isabella."

Maisie just giggled again, shyly hanging back from the banter between her new teacher and her father.

* * *

Edward couldn't understand why the human girl was so appealing to him. He had just met her; she had moved in from some sunny state elsewhere to rainy Forks so that her mother could follow her stepfather as he pursued his dream of being a baseball player. Or something. The entire story was so long and convoluted that he would have thought that the girl pulled it from her ass unless he knew how crap she seemed to be at lying.

He hated having to use actual manipulative words to find out about his prey, but he couldn't help it that this infuriating human just happened to be able to counter his gift with a mental shield, the likes of which he had never seen before. He knew that it would manifest into a wonderful vampiric gift, if he chose to take this girl as his mate and change her to mold her to his wishes.

That is, if he didn't drain her first.

"Edward?" the girl whimpered. That was another thing. She clung to him as if he were her life force, as if without him, she was nothing. He wondered if the mental shield made her more prone to the vampires' compulsion, the thing that drew humans to vampires like pigs to slaughter.

No. No food metaphors, nope, can't let that happen to her.

"Edward?" she squeaked again.

"What?" he snapped. She flinched.

"M-microscope-lab, I-uh," she stammered out, pointing at the scientific device. Scowling, Edward forced himself to look through the scratched lens for a second and spit out, "Anaphase," before returning to his dark thoughts.

"R-right," she mumbled, writing it down with her indecipherable scrawl. Edward snorted. Such an unattractive girl, fate chose as his mate. Maybe it was karma for escaping death via influenza.

"I think this one's telophase," she said uncertainly. He yanked the microscope away from her eyes to stare at it.

"It's prophase, silly girl," he snarled, letting his voice trail away beyond human hearing for the last two words.

"O-oh..." she said faintly, scratching in the answer on her paper.

_Kill me now. Maybe I should have listened to Rosalie and went to Denali before all of this could happen_, Edward groused to himself.

Kristen attempted the next slide by herself, blissfully unaware of Edward's murderous thoughts and intentions.

* * *

**So I renamed the character that would have been Bella. She is now named for the actress that portrays her because I have no imagination.  
**

**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the OOC Alice moments~ There will be a few more of those for a while.**

**Remember that if you have any questions whatsoever about this update, you are always free to review/PM me and depending on how spoilery the answer is, I will answer to the best of my ability.**

**Cheers!**

**~Shriayle**


	41. Syzygy: Shadowed Moon

**So many of y'all reviewed last time xD It's nice to hear from all of you!**

**Quick reminder: I will be closing the poll for the next story in four days (on the 25th, probably around 23:59 PST). So if you aren't one of the 15 people that have already voted and you want to, you're running out of time~~**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: Edward has a skewed idea of mates and mating in general. You'll see.**

**Alice (Guest): I believe her name was originally going to be something like 'Becca' or 'Belinda' or whatever and then I just went 'SCREW IT HER NAME IS NOW KRISTEN.' Rosalie and Emmett are kind of just there because they find the Cullens' problems amusing. And oohhhhhhh Alice. I was going to keep her in character until I realized that losing the person you think is your mate is a bit traumatizing, even for hyperactive clairvoyants. Also, Aro's reaction was a lot of fun to write, as well as my own reaction to the Twilight series after reading about the Volturi. Last note: Jamie Campbell Bower has single-handedly changed my mind about Caius from being the one actor who played a Volturi that is interviewed so damn much. Seriously. And he's always in costume, which makes me think he is Caius, but he's being all charming and upbeat so it makes Caius seem like the kind of person that would ride around on a unicorn and forcing Marcus to do it too.**

**Snowgirl252: Thanks for your comments :D**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Well, it might end a bit badly... ;)**

**YunaNeko: THANKS!**

**MoonPrincess623: It wasn't really fair to portray Kristen in Aro's and Edward's eyes first xD She's still just an ordinary-looking, smart girl, but she's a bit sharper than Twi-Bella is in terms of societal expectations and social interactions. Aro just isn't used to staring at human imperfections and Kristen was ****_extremely_**** nervous around Edward, causing her to fumble and her brain to fog up when he kinda glared at her and scared her. And Alice will be Alice...**

**Maiannaise: Oh, Edward...**

**BadAssTwilightGirls: Thanks for all of your kind words :) I am trying my hardest to write as fast as possible while juggling classes and college applications as of now.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: TWISTY TURNS**

**I am in Loki's Army: Rolling ball is rolling.**

**john86710: Kristen can be pretty silly-ish. And she doesn't resemble Isabella, really. Isabella looks like her siblings. Kristen has more mousy-brown hair and hazel-brown eyes.**

**Lorindol Tinuviel: OH HEY YOU'RE BACK COOL. I'm being drawn into a lot of Harry Potter fics myself, though I'm prepping to write either a HP or Percy Jackson one, depending on poll results. It'll be fun yay. And THANKS FOR THE LATIN HELP OH MY GOD. I spent entirely too long searching for conjugations stuff before ragequitting and going to Google. Same with another part earlier, which was in Italian. I felt horrible for doing it too xD And this story will only stop when I decide that it's over. YAYS.**

* * *

Reina was looking through the window. It was nighttime, nowhere near dawn, the sky its usual inky-ish dark blue, but it was uncharacteristically dark. It was one of the darkest nights that she had ever seen herself, especially so close to a city, no matter how small it was. She had seen the buildings come up in front of her very eyes; how did the original guard stand the changes that bypassed them all, the time that refused to follow them? She could make out so many constellations; Leo and Cassiopeia and Draco and Cygnus all stood out to her. That wasn't what really interested or concerned her at the moment.

"Reina?" She glanced over her shoulder. Glowing golden eyes on a tall form wearing black. She should have known.

"John, what are you doing here?" she asked with a slight groan. Even if John was the best company to keep (he wasn't), she wouldn't have welcomed him.

"I could ask you the same," the male responded, walking up behind her and towering over her small form. She took a longer look at his face this time. He seemed almost concerned, the playful light so often in his eyes having disappeared with the sun. His brow was furrowed, his stature tensed. He was glancing around back and forth, as if thinking that something would race into the room through the open window.

"What are you so anxious about?" she asked, poking his shoulder and catching his undivided attention. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest. "Excuse me, little miss crystal ball, but I don't exactly know what's going to happen, nor do I really want to. And you're staring at the night sky as if you've never seen it before. That's not exactly, what's the word, _natural_."

Reina gave a light scoff, saying, "We are not natural ourselves, John," before turning back to the sky. The tiny specks of light that were the stars reflected in the scintillating venom shielding her crimson eyes, sending millions of white dots scattering over her irises.

"It's the moon," she admitted after a moment's pause.

John looked out the window again. Stars as far as the eye could see. He could faintly see the galaxy's trail over the light from the city. That was about it.

"I hate to disappoint you, but the moon isn't visible tonight."

"Exactly."

John just watched her retreating form in confusion before shaking his head and turning into an owl and flying above her head back to his room. Females are weird.

* * *

"Alice?"

The short vampire gave the human an irritated look. "What, Kristen?" she snapped.

Kristen recoiled at the sharp words. "Er, ah," she stuttered, "I need to u-use the bathroom. Yeah. Human needs and everything. I-it's my, uh, time. You know. The time for this," she gestured to the area below her stomach. Her eyes darted back and forth. She was biting her lip. Alice saw her fingers twitch nervously, her heart rate increase ever so slightly. Poor little human, she didn't understand that lying to vampires was a bit difficult to do when your body betrayed your every thought, even if your mind can't be read.

"Excuse me, but I can smell blood, you know, and I know that you're lying about being on your menstrual cycle," Alice said bluntly. She leaned back in her uncomfortable chair, radiating disinterest. "Also, Kristen, when you have to talk to someone on the phone, don't go out of just human earshot, because I heard every single fucking word you said to that disgusting tracker."

Kristen's heart rate sped up, beating faster at every passing second. "Please, Alice, he has my mom. He has Renee. He's going to kill her, drink her, change her, I don't know. I need to save her," she babbled.

"Honestly, I don't care at all if you endanger yourself or not," Alice said, unnecessarily examining her nails. "It's all Eddie's responsibility to take care of that, y'know. I was just dragged along."

"He hates being called that."

"Well, goody for him," Alice snorted. She grabbed a random magazine from her bag. After opening it, she gave Kristen a look over the copy of _Vogue_. Just a prop, it now was; she didn't like reading about the latest styles anymore, though she still had a penchant for fashion.

Kristen sighed in exasperation, the air leaving her lungs in a huge huff. Really, she wasn't as unattractive as Alice once thought she was, she was just too _human_, without the perfect features of a vampire and without the perfect senses to realize what she didn't have. Her hair wasn't quite as lustrous, her eyes the color of a cold half-coffee half-milk drink, lacking any real life. _I hope you never know the pain of realizing the one you love doesn't love you in return. _It was a stupid hope since Alice knew that it would never be fulfilled. Kristen had just fallen too deeply for Edward, had become obsessed with him, treated him like her god. She called him her Adonis once; Alice had just rolled her eyes and walked away.

Alice knew that the girl merely interested her stupid adoptive brother, that he didn't love her back the way she seemed to obsess over him. She knew that he didn't want Kristen around at all, but that she drew him near for her mental shield and her inability to fear vampires, as well as possessiveness over her blood. Not to protect her from bloodthirsty vampires, no; he wanted to make sure that no vampire claimed her fluids before he could. She drove him crazy; he wasn't crazy about her. If she just shied away from them like a normal human being, freaking out and screaming for her father when she discovered that Edward watched her sleep like a creepy stalker-person _like a normal fucking human being_, then the entire situation that Alice foresaw would not have happened. Kristen would not get bitten by James, she would not have to have her venom sucked out by the one who her blood sang to, and she sure as hell would stay far away from the world of bloodsucking sparkles. But no, she just _had_ to be overly curious.

Damn humans and their optimistic thinking and their insatiable thirst for unnecessary knowledge.

Then again, she was like that before, when she had _him_. Funny, the pain had started to leech away slowly, and Alice was coming back to life. Once, she had been practically comatose and refused to respond to anything, but she was regenerating, like a phoenix. Only she wasn't reborn from fire, but from time. She turned into this new person, one that didn't rely on her visions, one that forced herself to lead her life. Yes, fate still controlled them. No, she wouldn't sit passively by the way she once did. She would become the kind of person that _he_ would have liked her to be: strong, confident in herself and not her abilities, sharp-tongued to flaunt her knowledge of the two former qualities. She could sort of understand why _he_ chose to leave after throwing her away. Maybe she would have done the same if their positions had been switched, if he had been waiting for her in that restaurant and forced her into his life.

But now this pest of a human, this unfortunate soul, was caught up in the same way.

And Alice was _damned_ if she would let that happen to a human much weaker than she herself was.

Even if she hated the girl for throwing her life away.

* * *

"Jane, wait!" Renata's call landed on deaf ears.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap," Reina chanted quietly, smacking her forehead with one hand and punching it with the other as if hammering nails into her head.

"Why did we think that was a good idea?" Demetri grumbled before pursuing his mate, who was now running maniacally down the marble hallways.

"Jane! Jane, this is _not_ a good idea! Jane, please! Jane, just listen to me!" Demetri's pleas were ignored just as readily as Renata's original one had been.

Jane stormed into the throne room, eyes ablaze. Inside, everyone was helping out with paperwork.

"A human girl _knows_?!" she shrieked, her musical voice going to the highest of pitches and squeaking. The kings all glanced up with different expressions; Aro with a look of surprise, Caius with one of amusement, Marcus with one of slight concern.

"Jane, calm yourself," Caius called out from his spot next to a table covered in more paperwork. Ever since they had to renew a city charter or something, the kings had been overwhelmed with more than enough human papers to verify their taking over property from their 'grandfathers' (also known as the kings themselves). It was confusing enough without a screeching guard in the room with them.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM MYSELF, _SIR_," Jane snarled, racing up to the table, slapping her hand down, grabbing a candlestick off of it, shattering it on the marble ground, twirling on her foot, and letting out a loud and frustrated groan.

Demetri burst into the room right after Jane, took one look at his raging mate and the wreckage beside her, and groaned internally. _Did she have to go on a tangent _now_ of all times? _Demetri found himself begrudgingly thinking. "Jane, not right now, let's go ask Reina for a clearer explanation," he said, coaxing her away. Or trying to coax her away, at least.

"NO, DEMI! THIS IS A MAJOR ISSUE!" Jane snatched her arm out of Demetri's carefully gentle grasp. He wisely chose not to try to contain her physically again. "WE'VE BEEN TAUGHT SINCE THE MOMENT A DROP OF VENOM ENTERED OUR VEINS THAT HUMANS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW OUR SECRETS, AND NOW THAT FUCKING ANIMAL-DRINKING COVEN DECIDES TO SHIT ON ALL OF OUR IDEALS AND SCREAM IT TO EVERY SINGLE FUCKING HUMAN THAT HEARS! OH, WANT TO NEVER SLEEP AT NIGHT? DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, WE'RE HARMLESS BECAUSE WE FORCE OUR TEMPTATION DOWN WITH THE BLOOD OF FUCKING _BUNNY RABBITS_! WE SPARKLE! AND WE WILL KILL YOU IF WE SMELL YOUR BLOOD! AND WE DON'T GIVE A FUCK! GODDAMNIT, THIS IS WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO PREVENT WHEN WE TARGET CRIMINALS AND GET MY BROTHER TO FUCKING SILENCE OUR THROATS, AND THEY WANT TO THROW THAT CAUTION AWAY? FUCK THEM! FUCK THEM, AND FUCK CARLISLE, AND-"

"Jane. Enough." The female's voice rang out over Jane's. The smaller female had stopped her uncontrolled monologue, her shoulders heaving as her lungs filled with and emptied out unnecessary air.

Isabella had been helping Marcus out with his portion of the work, and, with an apologetic glance back at the king she served and swiftly placing the paper she had been looking at back on a stack, she drifted forward to grab her sister and pull her into a rough embrace. "Not now, Jane," she whispered into Jane's ear, and the smaller vampire just collapsed into her and her small form began to shake with repressed sobs. She was a scared little girl again, the one that was sentenced to be tied up on the stake and burned for her innocent sins, sins she had no control over.

Isabella sent a pleading glance to her brother, who had just walked in with another packet of papers. One look at his twin sent all the papers spiraling out of his outstretched hands, fluttering everywhere, and him rushing to her side. Isabella and Alec quietly ushered Jane, still sobbing into their shirts and trembling, out of the throne room to prevent any further disruption.

Demetri watched them leave, his core pulsing in sympathetic pain. He desperately wanted to rejoin his mate, to help her siblings comfort her, but he knew that he couldn't combat the horrors of her past life, her human life, for her. Only Isabella and Alec understood and could help.

So Demetri just began picking up the papers that Alec had dropped and hastily reorganizing them before giving them to Caius with a bow and stepping out of the throne room to hopefully catch up to the three siblings by the time that Jane had calmed down slightly.

The kings looked at each other, unsure of what to say. No one wanted to break the silence that had washed over them.

"Well, that could have gone worse," Caius murmured, looking over the paperwork that Demetri had just given him.

"Pardon my pessimism, but how could that have gone worse?" Aro asked, still stuck on Jane's rage.

"She could have tried to kill us, or used her gift on us," the white-haired king responded nonchalantly. He flipped through the sheets in his hand, leaning them against one finger so that they breezed on by somewhat quickly, drinking in the information before signing his name on a line and putting the papers to the side. "Or Isabella could have misunderstood why she was upset and tried to kill us alongside her sister. That would have been something horrific to witness."

Marcus nodded gravely and silently. The hours passed quietly, with no other distractions

* * *

"Where is she, Alice?!"

The spiky-haired vampire quirked an eyebrow at her raging 'brother'. His eyes were crazed, fading from black to gold to black again without any control at all. The odd bruise-like shadows under his eyelids (a hazard of drinking animal blood; it sunk your flesh in a bit) were deeper now, showing that he hadn't hunted for at least a week, and his clothes were wrinkled and smelled like shit. She glanced at them quickly; he had been wearing those for the entire hunt for James. It had been at least five days since that little chase happened. He really needed to sort his priorities, it seemed. Though, she didn't care anymore. She had stopped really caring for shopping and clothes and stuff, even if she had fun torturing and threatening Kristen with the two activities.

But now, as she sat in a random pair of jeans she picked up from somewhere and a grey and black striped shirt, she couldn't possibly care less about any of the situations that surrounded her. She didn't give a damn about the girl that was sleeping on the bed in one of the many rooms in the hospital she sat in or about the stupid vampire that was waving his arms about like a crazy chicken that just found out that its head was going to be chopped off. She watched his expression darken at her insults and gave him a sweet smile in response.

"Alice, please, be reasonable! I need to know where she is, I need to make sure she's safe, I need to-"

"You need to make sure that she's safe, do you? Just in case you need to indulge yourself later? Just in case you actually fall in love with her? Just in case someone else drinks her blood before you can, the way that James creep nearly did? What do you want to do with this girl, Edward? Do you plan to play with her, patiently wait for her and stand her, and when you've had enough, just throw her away and leave coldly?"

"Alice, I'd never, I love her, she's my-"

She held up a hand to cut him off yet again. "Don't, Edward," she said, sounding tired. "I'm done with your lies to me and to Kristen. You were enough of a dumbass to tell her that you were mates when you probably don't have the mating pull at all, though that doesn't matter since you've never known what having a mate was like, the way I didn't. Now you're going to fix that before she turns immortal and learns herself when she's no longer as drawn to you as she was as a human and has to survive a heartbreak shattering enough to break you down. I don't wish the past events in my life on anyone, Edward, not even pitiful little humans who should die before the century ends."

"You've seen my future, a future where we're happy together, where we have gold eyes and dance and sing and laugh and love! Why can't that be the vision you focus on, help us achieve? I know that I can do it, with your help, Alice! You see what is to come, based on our decisions! You can tell us when our decisions fall off of the right path, help us get to there. Please, Alice, my entire existence is in your capable hands!"

The short-haired vampire looked him in the eyes and shook her head slowly, her shoulders shaking with either repressed tears or repressed laughter. Tears that he didn't understand, that he would never understand, that the one person who could make him understand had left her. Laughter that he didn't understand, that he didn't really know how to love after all.

"Edward, I haven't had that vision for months now. I haven't really had many visions for months now. I don't know how accurate that future is, based on what you and that human girl decide to do."

He started to tremble. "Regardless, I need to see Kristen _now_ and make sure that she's okay."

Alice said nothing. She merely shook her head again, crossed her arms, stood up abruptly, and walked out the way Edward came in, shoving the door out of the way with an upper arm.

"You'll regret this, brother."

Edward's look became stony as he watched his sister walk out, head down, her pace imitating the slow trudge of a human in mourning. He knew that it was to keep up the disguise amongst the other, obviously mortal people, and also to express her emotions. She felt _sorry _for him and his mate. His eyes resembled emotionless yellow flaming pieces of flint engraved onto his face.

The bronze-haired vampire did not listen to his adoptive sister, did not choose to walk away from Kristen's side whenever she was inexplicably drawn to him. Instead, he tracked her scent, the smell of sour strawberries and sweet lemons, the honeyed ambrosia that was her blood drawing her to him like moths to a light. He couldn't stop protecting her and also luring her into danger. She was his drug, his one, his only.

Yet not his love.

* * *

"The Cullens left Forks."

Jamie looked unnaturally grim. Aaron looked panicked next to him.

"What?" Caius asked in a menacing, hushed voice.

"They left Forks. And they left their little human pet behind."

"Irresponsible bastards," Jane hissed, incapable of keeping her snide comment to herself. Isabella quietly leaned over and smacked the back of her head and smirked when Jane swung her head around to glare at her sister. Alec just rolled his eyes at their antics.

"It's a bit difficult to say when they left," Jamie said, shuffling his feet. "It could be anywhere from two months ago to four months ago. But I saw the girl they were always with, the human, stay in her room for the longest of times, growing dead to everyone and everything around her, as if she lost her mate. But she's still alive, so she obviously not. Perhaps she was heavily invested in these Cullens and this pushed her over the edge. Anyhow, she's begun to stray across the treaty's boundaries into wolf territory. These wolves developed to kill vampires and protect their tribe."

"They aren't too big a danger to us," Aro said, waving a hand dismissively when Caius gave him a panicked look. "We developed as a government to take over safety of our species; they developed as protectors to sanction their own. Under no circumstances will we attempt to attack them."

"Yes, sir," Jamie said, bowing stiffly. "We did not change the girl's path, letting her stray to them. She is coming back to life now, but we saw that one boy in particular that she was always with, the chief's heir, named Jacob, is close to recognizing his inner wolf. I can only guess that the human will be rejected in favor of the tribe."

"I wouldn't want to be her," Renata whispered out from her place behind Aro's throne. Aro nodded thoughtlessly as he devoted all of his mind to what he would do now. The girl knew too much. Vampiric law stated that she was to die by their hands.

Caius just scoffed from his throne. "I fail to see why the Cullens couldn't have just turned or killed her. Now we have to clean up their messes for them?"

"Now now, Caius," Marcus said serenely, "if they did that, we'd have no job left. We need people to mess themselves up in order to show to others what not to do."

"Sir, you are rather scary when you say things like that," Isabella said.

Marcus gave her a faint smirk.

Aro cleared his throat and gestured for Aaron and Jamie to return to the lower guards. The siblings, who had been standing behind their respective mentors, quietly moved to stand with the rest of the elite guards, to the kings' left.

"So, the general plan for now is to somehow find the Cullens wherever in the world they are hiding," he announced, clapping his hands together. "It is not the girl's fault that she was exposed to our world, but theirs. They knew better than to send impulsive vampires, those turned when teenagers and not trained to control themselves the way that our guards do, to a place filled with hormones and plenty of human blood to drive any 'vegetarian'" (he said this with a sarcastic tone, his lips curving up in a mocking smirk) "crazy. She was drawn to them the way that humans are to vampires, and though she doesn't have any survival instinct that told her to flee, she should not be the only one punished for this.

"If we find Carlisle Cullen again, I have quite a few words for him."

* * *

"Seriously Major? It's been only forty-summat years!"

Jasper could feel the inevitable headache from hearing his friend's shrill voice rant at him again. As much as he had missed her, Charlotte hadn't been his favorite person in the army in the wars, and she sure wasn't his favorite person to be with right now.

"Char, shaddup for a sec," Peter said. She pouted but quieted down.

"Th' thing is, Major, we need to know. Y'plan to leave us? When'll ye go? And where the hell can we find ye again to chat 'n' shit?"

"Y'all need ta calm th' fuck down," Jasper snarled at the two mates. "Y'all haven't gotten no better with y'all's affections. I don't exactly feel like watchin' the two of ya simper over each oth'r anymore. I'm off to roam the world, maybe even the Old World, see the sights. If I ever think that I want to see you two sick bastards again, I'll call, 'kay?"

If he had given this speech to the Alice he knew, she would have crumpled and started to whimper to garner sympathy. Thankfully, his old coven was a lot more sensible than she was. Peter even began to chuckle, while Charlotte just gave him a crooked smirk.

"Eh, I thought this day'd come sooner 'r later," she said, crossing her arms. "As long as y'don't run off wit' pixie-cheeks again and fin' y'rself stuck with the rest of th' pansy-asses, y' better remember t'call us or summat so we can go and save ya, y'hear?"

Jasper watched his vision go misty and nodded, hiding his emotions from them. It wasn't any use, really; Peter and Charlotte knew him too well for that. They could read his body language as he silently nodded, started to back away, and then turned and sprinted away.

They knew he was hurting from the deceiver's words and actions, all those decades ago. The one who thought she could mold the future the way she saw it would turn out.

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: Jasper does not miss Alice. He is just extremely resentful towards her at this time. Though, if he knew what kind of person Alice was turning into, I'm not sure what he'd do.  
**

**Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, remember to review! ~Shriayle**


	42. Syzygy: Stormy Skies

**VOTE ON THE POLL! IT WILL CLOSE ON TUESDAY! This is your final warning!**

**Okay, plot is going to start to skyrocket for these next 14 or so chapters. At this point, I've got all of my songs and OCs, so all you have to do is be prepared for updates. Also, I'm on break for a week, so hopefully I can get a lot of writing done and be cool with updating every other day.  
**

**REPLIES:**

**NellieWolf123: Thank you for your kind words :) While I wouldn't call TLoaP the /best/ Twilight fanfic, I know that I do spend quite a bit of time on it, from making the plot to actually writing the thing out, so it's nice to hear from people who enjoy it.**

**rinlovesyou: Thanks!**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: She just might, as well ;)**

**Arabella Whitlock: Ohohoho~**

**Maiannaise: Be patient, friend**

**YunaNeko: YEP.**

**IAILA: I'm too lazy to type your pen name out now :P Also it's nice to know that some people like these reply thingys! I should probably keep them around, hmm? And I have seen an interview on YouTube where Sir Bower was asked about what he thought life in the Castle would be like or something and he made his voice sound really parsnicky to indicate that Caius was saying something annoying and then made it deeper and slightly lisp-y to imply Marcus was speaking. And then went "Hey Chris. How ya doin." I just remember thinking "you're acting like a teen, sir," and it just makes my mental image of Caius become just a bit more silly.**

**BadAssTwilightGirls: Alice does in fact have a heart. Who'da thunk.**

* * *

It had been a month since he had left his old coven. Not a day went by when he didn't think of their faces, their amused expressions when he left. Those faces infuriated him. They had known that he couldn't last at all around their constant _love_, love so genuine that he felt it only once before, with Eleazar and Carmen. Even Carlisle and Esme, though he knew they were somewhat mated, didn't have so concentrated an affection.

Jasper was really freaking jealous of it, too.

He wanted to be able to feel appreciated by someone. Alice just wanted him because he was perfect, Maria because of his previous violent tendencies. No one saw how shattered he had become from the war and from seeing Cooper's hastily reconstructed body. Unless they went through the same pain, they would never know, as well.

He had been in Texas while with Peter and Charlotte. They had stayed by their previous haunts, reigniting old memories, more bad than good, and meeting random nomads. That Garrett guy in particular pissed Jasper off to no end as he rattled on about how he had fought for the side that was apparently trying to 'destroy the America that we fought righteously against the British for'. That guy was insane. Jasper hadn't fought to separate America. He had fought for his right in Texas to be an independent state. Was that so bad?

Jasper felt himself begin to ramble and growled at himself. He was currently walking towards the water on the beach. There were a few people playing with a dog nearby. The canine looked at Jasper, whimpered quietly, and then ran off towards the sand, barking loudly. His owners laughed, grabbed their child's hands, and ran towards the dog, not knowing that it had been Jasper's intention. It was easy to fill the dog with fear and whisper for it to run away. Smiling at the happy couple plus one, he turned back to the ocean and walked into it.

He strode confidently as he saw the water level rise above him. He kicked off from the ground and smoothly propelled himself through the water, stroking with his arms and kicking with his legs. The water was brown and murky, but it soon thinned out to a deep greenish-blue as he entered the part of the ocean farther from civilization. Satisfied, he got to the surface and glanced around.

He saw the sky extend for miles all around. The ocean's waves were the only buildings he could see. Jasper began to kick his legs in a circular motion, propelling himself far enough out of the water that he could somehow stumble into a run, racing towards Europe. He ran for only a couple of days; he sprinted to his next adventure. Something was pulling him east for whatever reason, and he decided that his instincts had been on the ball for long enough for him to trust them.

Jasper sank beneath the waves again when he smelled the faintest hint of acrid smog and realized that he was nearing the continent. Yes, this was interesting; the European Union was more of a country than the so-called United States of America seemed to be, and they functioned similarly to how the Confederacy had wanted to function. They each had their own leader, their own government, and their own autonomy, but they shared a general council with which to discuss worldly affairs and a monetary system. It was his version of a perfect political scene, despite the corruption.

Jasper resurfaced on a rocky beach, shaking his hair out and stripping down to wring out his clothes. He had left his hat with Peter and Charlotte, but he kept the rest of the ensemble he had on when he left the witch. He quickly put the wrinkled clothes back on, smoothed them out thoughtlessly with his hands, and ran until he was within a hundred miles of Volterra and his clothes had dried.

Why was he in Volterra? Did he have a future with the Volturi starting in T-30 minutes?

Maybe. His instincts had never been too devastating. True, there was the one to go talk to the female vampire back when he was a human, but he'd always been a bit too stupid, something he quickly remedied after his transformation. Maria didn't tolerate stupidity.

Shuddering at the memory, Jasper wandered into a nearby city to search for his prey. The thought of hunting within Volterra boundaries never came to him. He didn't know what the guard would do to any trespassers, and the population was too small to be culled anyhow. Walking through alleyways, Jasper closed in on the scent of a dying man. He seemed old, ill, practically bedridden and stumbling through the walls. Jasper watched the human fight off death for long enough before appearing behind him and snapping his neck almost gently, caressing the skin there. The man fell to the ground. A painless death.

Jasper quietly drained the man and set fire to his clothes, making sure that the body was turned completely to ashes before kicking the grey pile of powder and continuing on. He tracked down another person and drank their fluids as well, but before he could set the woman on fire, he smelled another scent.

A sweet, heady scent. It reminded him of freshly-cut grass and some sort of rich pastry combined into one, all with an slightly acidic, alluring overtone. As he smelled it again, he felt as though he was becoming drunk, but he was as clear-headed as always. It was the most wonderful smell that he had ever detected. And that meant that it was some sort of vampire that was making its way to him.

Heart racing at the possibility of meeting this attractive newcomer, Jasper hurriedly set the woman's body on fire and stood next to it, watching the venom catch fire and her clothes burn to soot.

"That's not very nice," a voice said behind him in English. A feminine voice, both light-hearted and cold.

Jasper glanced over his shoulder. A girl, around four inches taller than Alice was, approached him, arms crossed across her chest. Her naturally wide, deep red eyes were slightly narrowed in suspicion, betraying no other emotion. Her hair was a more fiery orange than her irises, and though it was arranged into a seemingly neat ponytail, curls sprang up jollily in every direction past the ribbon that carefully tied it back. She was wearing all black with a spotless, white cloak.

For her part, Maisie just observed the new vampire. He had light blond hair, much more golden in color than Jane's was, and glowing red eyes that shone with surprise and interest. That was all she could see of him; the fire burning in front of him threw up fingers of light and shadow that masked the rest of his visage. She didn't know what to make of this tall, glorious stranger, looking just like a tall Apollo framed by the rays of the Sun. He was a veritable god.

She was oddly drawn to him. She wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to mean.

"I'm sorry, li'l miss," Jasper said, realizing that this little lady had said something to him before he became entranced in her appearance. She seemed slightly embarrassed by the title, or maybe she had forgotten that she said something to him as well.

"An English speaker, then?" Maisie asked, raising an eyebrow. "And a Southern American one?"

"Er, yes. Yer Irish, right?" Jasper said, blinking.

"Mm." The girl just stared at him.

"You got a coven, li'l miss?" Jasper asked. It occurred to him that he didn't know what the girl's name was.

"I do, indeed," she replied in Italian, not skipping a beat. Jasper smirked at her; she felt flustered all of a sudden.

"Well then," he said in flawless Italian, holding his arm out to her, "why don't I take you back to them?"

Maisie looked at the arm, looked up at the newcomer, looked back at the arm, and then took it and smiled. "I'd be happy to be your escort, fine gentleman," she said with a slight mock bow.

Jasper liked her fire, hidden behind the guarded expression she seemed to wear like a hat. He saw her let go quickly to pull her white hood over her face, put her arm through his again, and nod to him.

"This way, sir," she said, leading him back towards Volterra and towards the Castle that the nomadic vampire had dreamed of for practically his entire existence.

* * *

When Maisie had returned, she entered through the public entrance rather than the private one. The newcomer wasn't one of the guard or the coven, so he shouldn't know about the entrance that only they knew about. She saw Gianna sitting at her place in the receptionist's desk; they had just started to use human secretaries when it became clear that Isabella blatantly refused to act as one. Gianna had also apparently been Damian's mate, but she chose to learn more about the world before falling headfirst into it. A wise decision, the entire guard agreed.

"Good day, Maisie. Who is this with you?" Gianna asked, her normally warm voice becoming cold as she looked at the newcomer.

"I did not ask his name. I plan to take him to the kings," Maisie said with the same cold voice. The two females glared at each other for a while until Gianna let out a tiny giggle, and then they were reduced to laughs.

"Go on, my girl," Gianna said, still laughing to herself. "Go surprise your father with your acquisition."

"Gianna!" Maisie grumbled, tugging a very confused Jasper towards the throne room.

"What was she talking about?" Jasper asked after descending down one extremely long flight of stairs, down three hallways, and into the darker part of the Castle.

"Hmm, maybe we should have taken the new elevator," Maisie muttered to herself before answering his question. "You need not know, sir. It's her duty to be annoying."

"I...see," Jasper responded, deciding not to question the little lady.

She let go of his arm to knock on the door, and he immediately felt as though he lost something. He noticed that there was some light streaming into the hallway via a thin window near the top of the hallway, and he saw with undeniable horror his shimmering scars. They covered his body, showing how marred a being he truly was. How had the little lady not noticed? He knew that humans really didn't notice these tiny things, so the receptionist obviously wouldn't, but the female vampire didn't. How?

Someone came to open the door. A female with red eyes, a nearly black cloak arranged neatly on her shoulders, with reddish-brown hair that reminded Jasper slightly of the mind-reader that he once lived with. She raised a single eyebrow at the two of them.

"Master Caius has been asking where you've been, Em," she said, winking at the female. If it were possible, Maisie would have been blushing furiously. Jasper was confused again; her name was Em? What kind of name was that, if she had an Irish accent?

"Fine then, Isabella," she grumbled, turning and gesturing for Jasper to come with her. "Sir, we are to go see the kings now."

Jasper felt his stomach drop slightly. He was going to meet the vampiric kings? Carlisle would have an aneurysm over this one. If he were, y'know, _human_.

The guard, Isabella, opened the door wider, turned, and walked them in.

"The protected Maisie has entered with a newcomer, sirs," she called out, formally and emotionlessly. Jasper noted how easily she had slipped into another persona, a facade for the government.

"Enter, Maisie and newcomer," a masculine voice rang out. It came from one of the figures on the thrones, one with long brown hair tied back in a neat braid. The other two, both with short hair, one with black and one with white, sat back and observed. Jasper recognized them with a jolt; the one that called out was Marcus, and the others must be Aro and Caius respectively. That painting that Carlisle treasured so much was surprisingly accurate.

"Maisie, come here," Caius called out. Without a look at Jasper, she obediently ran up to the thrones, casually brushing Aro's hand with hers on the way, and stood behind his throne. Aro's eyebrows raised and he looked back at the fiery-headed vampire, who looked back at him innocently.

He chuckled briefly. "Of course, the trickster is yours, brother."

"Our newcomer will misunderstand if you continue, Aro," Marcus warned, glancing back at the now stiffened Jasper.

"My apologies, newcomer," Aro called back. "If you please, your name and sire, newcomer."

"Major Jasper Whitlock, sir," Jasper said tersely, ignoring the few whispers that started up. "My sire was Maria. I know not where she is now."

"Whitlock? The God of War?" Caius called out sharply, shooting a frantic look towards an unknowing Maisie. "Why are you on the Continent now? I was under the illusion that you were still on American soil."

"I was until today at around 3am, sir," Jasper said, standing at attention.

Caius nodded (in approval?).

Marcus glanced from Jasper to Maisie and chuckled slightly.

"What an interesting development," he murmured. Aro's eyes darted over to Marcus's for a brief second before he stood up from his throne.

"Well then, Major Whitlock, you are welcome to stay if you wish. I have not heard of any crime you have carried out recently, and there is no reason for you to be detained. Please, make yourself comfortable."

"Alec, please see that our guest has quarters by the end of the hour," Caius called out suddenly. The male vampire nodded and turned to Jasper, gesturing him along with his head. Jasper glanced back to Maisie, who was avoiding eye contact as she stood behind Caius's throne, before following Alec out slowly.

"Who is the little miss, really?" Jasper asked the second they were out of earshot.

Alec blinked in confusion. "The little miss? A shorter female, then?" he asked to clear up any fogginess.

"Er, yes," Jasper said, cursing his stuttering. He never _stuttered_ before in his life. What the hell?

"If you mean Jane or Renata, then they're both taken," Alec responded in amusement.

"No, neither of those. The little miss I came into the room with," Jasper clarified.

Alec glanced at him in surprise before his expression set itself back on the emotionless setting and he stared straight ahead again. "She is Master Caius's daughter by bond. They are close as those by blood," Alec explained briefly. He found the door he wanted and quickly turned it, pushing it open. It was a darker room made of ebony, with silver and red highlights running through it.

"This will be your room, Major," Alec said, turning as if to leave. "You may furnish with anything you choose to buy or find in the Castle not in another's chambers."

"Wait, Alec, was it?"

The shorter male turned and raised an eyebrow at Jasper.

"You may call me Jasper, if you wish. I foresee that I will be staying here for a bit longer than I initially thought."

Alec took in the information, nodded silently, and walked away, back towards the throne room.

* * *

Carlisle had never been more frightened before in his life.

In front of him and his family, which had been hiding away in Canada of all places, were three Volturi guards. Two were familiar, but one was a new addition; a man with silvery-blond hair and an intelligent face. The tallish vampire with light brown hair and the tallest vampire with the wide frame were there as well. Their three pairs of red eyes glowed menacingly in the light of the thin crescent moon.

"Why are you three here?" he asked, trying to sound demanding. He cursed the way his voice seemed to trail away from fright. And he was quite frightened.

"We heard tell that you broke a rule most precious to our masters," the wide-set vampire said, grinning at their fear.

"I don't know which rule this is you speak of," Carlisle shot back, his voice wavering.

"Carlisle, get away from the door," a woman hissed, pulling the blond man back. Her caramel colored hair glowed in the light, and her golden eyes flashed furiously.

"What have you been told about my family?" she snarled, her hair beginning to rise slowly. "I can't imagine which rule you think we have broken. There are no immortal children, and we have kept to ourselves in this town, not talking to any mortals."

"This town, so specific, _Esme_," the newcomer purred. Esme's face contorted into a gruesome sneer.

"How do you know my name?" she hissed out.

"That is not of your concern," the tallish stranger interrupted. "We hear that you told a mortal of our existence back in Washington."

"We didn't tell her anything, she just guessed really well," one of the vampires inside the house said.

"Yes, Emmett McCarthy Cullen, she did indeed," the newcomer said in a harsh voice. They ignored the sounds of surprise that he knew Emmett's full name. "Yet you encouraged her knowledge. You didn't fight it when she confronted your oldest son, a son that I see is absent at the moment."

"He is in Alaska, hunting," a blonde woman said tersely.

"Ah, Rosalie Hale! Funny that you should know that," the newcomer sneered.

"What my son is doing is of no concern to you," Esme shot back. "You have no right!"

"You had no right to break the law," the tallest one said.

"No right to let the mortal know she was right," the next tallest said.

"You have two weeks to remedy this mess," the newcomer said.

"Make sure you use those three hundred and thirty-six hours well, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and Alice."

And with that, the two dark cloaks and one lighter cloak vanished.

Carlisle and Esme were shell-shocked, standing stock still when they realized that the Volturi knew about everyone. They knew about how Alice had joined after the time they came to mete justice over that stupid treaty. They knew about how Edward had abandoned Kristen when it became clear that the girl was smitten with him. They knew _everything_.

It was shocking, to say the least.

And with that, Alice gasped and sat up from the couch she was lying down on. She had just listened to everything that the Volturi guards were saying, not really paying attention, but now...

"Ali?" Rosalie called out uncertainly. After Jasper ran away and Alice was heartbroken, it had been the blonde who comforted her, and their relationship was as strong as ever.

"She's committed suicide. Jumped off of a cliff into raging waters below with no one to watch her," Alice blurted out.

"Who?!" Esme screeched, her normally melodious voice becoming dissonant with worry.

"Kristen."

* * *

"Jasper, was it?"

The blond vampire glanced up from his spot on a couch. The first guard he ever met, Isabella, stood behind him. She was wearing a ruffled sleeveless shirt that was a sort of shimmery grey fabric, with black bottoms. She was also walking around barefoot, it seemed.

"Er, yes, yes it is," Jasper said, standing up abruptly and at attention.

"At ease, sir," Isabella said with a roll of her eyes. "If that's your first reaction at any shock, then Aro will never put you on the guard."

"Pardon?" Jasper asked, startled.

"I hear you can manipulate emotions. Empaths are rare, much more rare than clairvoyants or even shields and weapons. You and Chelsea are among the only ones in the world, and even Chelsea is more of a weapon than you are. Aro desires you."

"Is that the only reason why I'm here?" Jasper asked with some amusement.

"Well, no," Isabella admitted, murmuring too quietly for him to hear. "There are other reasons too."

"Excuse me?" Jasper asked, confused again. He was more confused than he had ever been in his existence ever since he walked into the Castle.

"Nothing, Major," Isabella said, picking up a beat-up chessboard with equally weathered pieces. Jasper's eyes lit up.

"Chess?!" he practically squealed, throwing himself at the board. "Wow, you have a vintage board, don't you?" he asked, lovingly stroking it with a finger.

"Are you alright?" Isabella asked, amused.

Jasper turned back to her, his eyes shining like those of a boy in a candy store with a twenty euro note. "Of course! It's been more than a century and a half since I last played this!"

Isabella blinked. "Seriously?" she asked, bemused. "Well then, Major, we'll have to play to refresh your memory, hmm?"

The two began one of the most intense games of chess that Isabella had ever been in. There was a reason why Jasper was a Major; he was one of the most strategic vampires that she ever had to play against since she played Caius last.

Jasper was distracted by a card that had apparently been flicked across the room. He caught the ace of spades after it bounced off of his head, his eyes slowly inching their way up as he noticed Jane standing in the doorway, the rest of the deck in her hand, a smirk on her face.

"You two are complete nerds," she commented before flicking the fifty-one remaining cards with lightning speed at them and flouncing out of the door.

Isabella just sighed at her sister's immaturity before continuing to beat Jasper.

* * *

Jasper had become accustomed to the Volturi lifestyle surprisingly easily. He was given a dark grey cloak for his strategic mind and empath abilities, and he slowly began to fit into their complex puzzle.

Marcus had long since predicted that Maisie and Jasper were in fact mates. They weren't the typical romantic mates, though; their relationship was more of an older brother-younger sister relationship that wasn't quite so innocent. Caius, of course, didn't approve. As Maisie's father, he found it necessary to threaten Jasper, who just laughed it off later. Athenodora thought it adorable and teased Maisie relentlessly about it, much to the latter's dismay. Isabella herself thought it was a great pairing; Maisie was quiet and innocent-seeming and Jasper violent and sarcastic, but they were also broken souls. From the second that Maisie found Jasper burning the body of his prey, they had begun to heal each other. Jane thought it the most romantic thing she heard. Alec pretended to gag when he heard Jane's comment.

But Jasper didn't devote his time only to Maisie. He became fast friends with Aaron, Felix, Demetri, and, surprisingly enough, Corin. Jasper saw how vital these four were to the workings of the Volturi, and they were surprised at the sudden respect they got from him. They offered him friendship in response, which he enthusiastically accepted. They discussed matters such as finding someone who is a liability and destroying him, keeping the enemy happy in order to execute them more thoroughly, discussing possible plans of attack at any time. The normal friendly chit chat.

Of course, the illusion of peace lasted only a couple of days. Reina suddenly shot up from her prone position and raced directly for Aro, not taking any more than a second to poke his palm.

Aro's light-hearted expression turned stony in a second. "You are positive, Reina?" he hissed before realizing how precise her visions had always been.

"I am very certain, sir," she said, flustered and worried. "The mortal isn't as dead as the Cullens thought, and the boy will come here to 'commit suicide' and join her in the afterlife. However, he believes that he must show his bare skin to the sun and expose us. Carlisle has told him for his entire existence that you want his gift."

Caius rolled his eyes. "As fascinating as mind readers are, one is annoying enough," he snubbed. Aro glared half-heartedly at him before rolling his eyes and turning back to Reina.

"Well, we'll have to prepare. Tell the white-cloaks to make sure to be hidden from sight, probably ask Jasper to guard them. Isabella will probably need to guard everyone's thoughts. It won't be impossible to pull off in only sixty hours."

* * *

**omg new moon plot omg omg omg  
**

**Until next chapter! Vote on the poll!**

**~Shriayle**


	43. Syzygy: New Moon Rising

**Okay, so this plot point was supposed to be one typical 4500-word ish chapter and as I was writing and I glanced down at the word count, it was closer to 6,000 and I was barely 75% done. So, I'm splitting it in half and posting individual chapters. Therefore, this has a weird ending and the next one has a weird beginning. To make up for that, I'm posting them on two consecutive days; the next half will be available tomorrow. COINCIDENTALLY THAT'S WHEN THE POLL ENDS SO GO VOTE YEAH.**

**ALSO WHEN EDITING A MISTAKE THAT A REVIEWER WAS KIND ENOUGH TO MENTION I NOTICED THAT THE ENTIRE BOTTOM IS COMPLETELY STUPID AND NOT FORMATTED CORRECTLY DARN IT. IT HAS BEEN FIXED.  
**

**ACTUAL NEW MOON PLOT WHAT.**

**I have tweaked the plot ever so slightly to fit my needs and Volturi better.**

**Some of the material below (mostly dialogue) is from actual New Moon, like written-by-Stephenie-Meyer-and-not-Shriayle ****_New Moon_****. I will try my best to italicize those parts, but whether or not I will be able to is a different question. So if you see a bit that is extremely familiar, let me know so I can edit the thing thanks.**

**REPLIES:**

**Maiannaise: I can guarantee now that Isabella will in fact have a mate.**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: heheh**

**Lorindol Tinuviel: (wow your username is a mouthful now) Well, the Jasper/Maisie thing was more of a spur-of-the-moment thing again, but I wanted Jasper's mate to be just as broken as he was to emphasize the healing-together kind of relationship. And Isabella had already kinda healed herself with her siblings. And she's not good at repressing emotions, though her face wouldn't show them, and Jasper would probably turn into some sort of really REALLY BAD time bomb because her darker emotions and stuff. Maisie's emotions are more sadness/etc. so it's easier for him to stand hers. And AGH LANGUAGES. They will come to play in my next story, too. Ugh.**

**Arabella Whitlock: But that would get rid of so much action D:**

**rinlovesyou: I'm sorry for the short wait.**

**YunaNeko: Your support is amazing :)**

**pandorazul: I already answered these questions.**

**Guest: Heheh.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: They weren't mates, but Jasper was Alice's first love, so she's still attached to the memory she had of him. Of course, she knows that she was kinda too clingy and upbeat, and that he left her like any reasonable person would. But they weren't mates at all. It's confusing.**

* * *

How could she? How could she choose to die like this? It wasn't even a beautiful death, like a gunshot to the temple; at least he could have been around to scrounge up some of her blood afterwards. No, it was a less violent death: jumping off of a cliff into raging waters to drown. The blood probably coagulated by now and became completely inedible. Damn that girl, always finding some way around him.

He crumpled up the phone that Rosalie had called him on, was still calling him on. He could hear her frantic words: _"Edward! Don't you dare hang up on me! We'll find some way to make sure it was really he-" SKRTCHH!_ He flung the mass of metal into a nearby trash can with a frustrated shriek. He couldn't help but go and hunt again, find a deer prancing about, fling himself on the thing, slash out its throat, spraying the grass, the trees, and his clothes with blood, roll around in the liquid, claw out again to open its belly, fling its innards out, and overall turn it into a pile of unintelligible mush that he covered himself with.

"Edward?! Edward, stop this nonsense!"

Edward didn't stop. He tore out a bone, snapped it in half, and repeated it. When he couldn't get the ribcage out, he kicked the mutilated carcass and listened to the bones shatter into powder with a gruesome satisfaction. He lashed out again, spraying the entire thing with venom, and tore off a leg. He felt his fingers tear through fur and skin to find muscle that it shredded into ligaments and fibers before flinging it to the side and grabbing another.

"Edward."

He kept going. Another leg, another organ smashed into a pulp in a hand with a satisfying, sickening sound. The pulp flung aside, no matter if it got on his clothes. From the consistency, he thought that it might be the liver he just demolished.

A hand grabbed his arm. He screamed in indignity, tried to throw his attacker to the side.

"Whoa there, brother. Stop this nonsense now."

Edward snarled at Emmett, who refused to budge. Rosalie and Carlisle were with him, Rosalie looking extremely sick at the sight of the disemboweled deer and Carlisle just looking sad yet understanding.

"You hurt after you lost your mate, son, I understand," the doctor said quietly. "But you must keep your hopes up. Perhaps there is another for you."

"Carlisle, you're sounding stupid," Rosalie snorted. "Mates are a one-and-only-one thing. If you never met them while they lived, sure, they will reincarnate or whatever. But we spent damn near two years with that human, and they apparently mated; what's to say that Kristen isn't gallivanting with her grandmother in the afterlife now?"

"Rosalie," Carlisle admonished sharply, but the damage was done. Edward went numb again and his body began to struggle more fervently against Emmett.

"There is one final option," the doctor said quietly.

"What is it Carlisle? I can't live without..." _tasting her blood. Her glorious, beautiful blood._

Carlisle misunderstood again, as he always did. _Go to the Volturi,_ he thought to Edward. _Ask them for help. Ask Marcus; he knew what it was like to have a mate taken away from you. He may understand. Perhaps they will listen to you._

Edward's eyes widened and Emmett finally let go as the bronze-haired vampire stopped struggling. Edward took that opportunity to sprint east, past forests and civilizations, towards Toronto.

"Carlisle! What did you tell him?!" Emmett growled out.

"I told him to visit my old friends in Italy," Carlisle responded coldly. 'Friend' wasn't exactly accurate anymore, but they had to listen, right?

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but now _we_ have to take care of Eddie's mess here," Emmett groused, glancing at the blood and gore sprayed all over the forest, the decomposing corpse right in front of them.

"Leave it for the predators," Carlisle said before turning and running back to their residence in Canada.

Rosalie and Emmett exchanged a disgusted look before following him, casting last glances at the demolished deer. They knew that the venom Edward had sprayed all over it would prevent any predators from even coming close enough to see the carcass, but there wasn't anything they could do. Carlisle wouldn't want them disobeying, after all.

* * *

"That animal drinker is coming here, is he?" Jane sneered. "I'll give him the death he wants."

"Now, dear Jane, we're going to have to let him live. After all, Reina foresaw quite the terrifying future for him, and we're going to have to see how that goes, hmm?"

Jane glared at Aro. "I guess so, sir," she muttered ferociously. "But can I punish him still?"

Aro smiled conspiratorially at her. "Jane, you'll be able to do much more than that. Don't worry, I have decided our every action after this. Aaron, Jasper, and Caius have developed a strategy in case this initial plan doesn't pan out, and we will ensure that everything goes smoothly."

Jane grumbled. "Why don't I ever get a say anymore?"

* * *

It was evening when Edward walked into the Castle. Gianna glanced up and stopped writing something into her book immediately. The kings had warned her of this, and Damian had been ensured that she wouldn't be hurt, but she still proceeded with caution.

"Welcome to Volterra's own Castle. May I help you? Would you like to schedule a tour, for example, or do you have an appointment with the kings?"

"Appointment..." Edward muttered, rolling his eyes. Gianna resisted the urge to spit at this disrespectful little boy. She had been instructed to keep a more innocent line of thought running through her brain on the very outside, and though she found it more difficult to do than the vampires did, she had worked hard to make sure she could do it. Now, Edward was blinded even by the human.

"I thought that the _kings_," (Gianna bit back an insult for his scorn) "let people have, what are they called, walk-in appointments."

"I'm sorry, you were misinformed," Gianna responded coldly. "You have to schedule an appointment at least two weeks in advance before being able to come into the throne room to talk directly to the kings, and it costs quite a bit. We have to reschedule the kings' busy schedules, you see, sir, and it is expensive to move appointments around. If you have a dire matter, you have to call us first so we can see you in a timely manner."

"Listen, _mortal_, I need to see the kings immediately!" Edward snarled, banging a fist on the desk. Gianna bit back a retort (she really wanted to call him a small child throwing a tantrum) and quickly changed her surface thoughts to reflect sudden fear.

"Mortal? I'm sorry, sir, but we are all mortal. Are you insinuating something?" she asked, knowing that if this Edward had been mistaken and talked to the wrong receptionist, he would be on the executioner's block right now.

"I am not mortal, silly human. And I need to talk to the kings. _Immediately_!"

"Gianna, don't worry. Master Aro has been expecting this piece of filth for a while now."

Edward whipped around, a snarl on his face, before realizing who was standing in front of him.

The little girl, the one that had inflicted so much pain on him before. His body ached at even the slightest reminder of that torture.

Gianna looked relieved. "Yes, Miss Jane," she said. "If the Masters have been expecting him, then he must have an appointment he did not know of. If you could take him to the throne room, please?"

Edward was shocked at the impudence of this receptionist. He was even more shocked by Jane's demure attitude. But what surprised him most of all was that he couldn't read this Jane at all. He hadn't heard her thoughts when she approached, and he hadn't sensed her thoughts now.

"Of course, Gianna," Jane responded warmly, turning to Edward. Her kindness vanished in a second. "Come with me, guest," she said harshly, turning on her heel and striding down the hall with utter confidence.

Edward noticed that Jane did in fact have a thought stream going on. It was just oddly muffled; she was thinking of the Castle's map. He committed it to memory, in case he had to escape for whatever reason.

Jane smirked as she created this false map. She changed the hallway to the quarters into a dead end, and the way to the throne room was masked by a map to an actual dead end. It was great fun to mess with this teenager with a superiority complex the way that Aro had told her it would be. She decided to just let him do as he wished with this pesky family from now on.

She dramatically threw the doors of the throne room open without knocking. They slammed loudly against the wall, stopping any inane chatter going on inside. Edward looked perturbed, probably at the lack of thought coming from these other guards. There were only a few actually in the room; she glanced around and saw her siblings, the mates, and Felix and Heidi. She guessed that Jasper was sent to watch over the protected, since Edward would quickly and easily recognize him and create more trouble than was worth.

She bowed to the kings theatrically (not that Edward would know, the fool) and took her place next to the thrones. Edward made some move as if to follow her, thinking she would lead him to the kings, but he stopped when he realized he was to face them alone.

Fuck.

"Ah, my dear Edward!" Aro crooned out in his high-pitched voice, the one he formulated for dealing with criminals. Jane, Alec, and Isabella barely held back a laugh at the ridiculous tone. Felix let out a low chuckle from his position near the door, and Heidi just rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room.

"How did- right, mind reader," Edward stuttered in response, running his hand through his hair, flustered. Isabella's eyes narrowed; the name reminded her of something so long-lost in time, she could barely remember.

Earlier years.

A mother.

A son.

Hunting, finding a lost child.

Cooing at it, watching his eyes widen in wonder when before they were wide with horror.

Finding his mother, giving him back.

_"Oh, thank you kindly, dear. I've been looking for my little Edward for far too long."_

Well then.

She remembered watching the two of them walk off, a slight twinge of _something_ squeezing her core. She remembered wondering what that twinge was. She remembered shrugging it off.

Damn this ignorant, stinking animal-drinker who brought back these memories.

The copper-headed vampire glanced about nervously. It had unnerved him when the human he was enamored with had a well-protected mind; now, the rest of the guards in the Castle seemed to be muted! Maybe he was losing his gift.

_No, I can't just lose his gift, damn it, that wasn't how gifts worked. There must be something about the Castle itself that is preventing me from using his mind-reading. Was Aro as affected? Probably not, since he's practically ancient, and there's no way that he would be so immune. What could it be?_ Edward's mind raced through the possibilities, his eyes widening as his thoughts began to override his common sense.

A quick jab of pain. Edward cried out, looking around while trying to figure out where it came from. He looked back at the thrones, crouched in a defensive position. Some of the guards had broken off from their original cluster and were standing beside the thrones. There was a male with Caius, a taller female standing with Marcus, and Jane herself stood behind Aro.

"Thank you, Jane," Aro said coldly. Edward swallowed back a mouthful of venom and nodded stiffly.

"I'm sorry, sir," he muttered out through gritted teeth. He felt blind without his gift and he wanted it _back_.

Aro soundlessly held out a hand. When Edward balked, Aro raised an eyebrow challengingly. "You refuse to respond to so friendly a gesture?" he twittered, his cold expression not matching his light-hearted words.

Edward stiffened, as if bracing himself, before reluctantly putting his hand in Aro's. Aro's expression hardened for a second before he let go. "I see, young Edward," he murmured. Jane fidgeted slightly; his tone had changed again, and she was suspicious of what this idiot animal drinker had shown the king.

"Jane, please go ensure the back room is secure. Tell the guard to come here after our, ah, guest leaves," Aro instructed. She nodded, knowing that there must be some reason why Jasper wasn't alluded to by name. She walked out of the room with her head up and facing away from the thrones, but couldn't help but send a small spark of pain towards Edward again.

Edward winced. She smirked. Aro just rolled his eyes slightly.

"You have a request for me?" Aro asked. Edward grimaced; the arrogant king obviously already knew. He just wanted Edward to say it for himself. Annoying prick.

"My mate killed herself after I left her," Edward said carefully. "I wish to join her in the afterworld, or just punish myself for being so complacent."

"Your mate killed herself?" Caius asked, giving Edward a scathing yet curious look. "When you left her? That all smacks of incorrect education of mates."

"What?" Edward growled out.

"Mates cannot do anything that would hurt their other," Marcus explained quietly. "You wouldn't have been able to leave her if you knew it would hurt her. She wouldn't have killed herself if she knew that it would hurt you, unless you tell her 'You are not my mate'. That is the only way to come even halfway close to dissolving the mate bond. That might not be enough to get rid of it completely. To be honest, no one has even thought about testing the limits of the mating bond because it could prove excruciatingly painful."

"It has been painful," Edward bit out. "It feels like my throat is being clawed out by the Children of the Moon, and I can barely hunt. Humans don't seem as appetizing as they usually do. Please, just help me. Let me go."

Aro gave him an appraising look.

"I'm afraid we can't."

Edward gave him a furious look. "Why not? I feel as though I'm dying!"

"I'm sure," Aro said dryly. "I'm afraid that you're too valuable to get rid of."

"This is exactly what my sire warned me of," Edward sneered.

"Ah, how is Carlisle, anyhow? Did he catch wind of our warning, perhaps?" Caius retorted. How in the world did Jasper handle even one year with this immature child?

"He did, actually," Edward said. "He was a bit shocked that the Volturi were in fact doing their duty for once."

"He's bluffing," Aro said lightly. Edward glared at him. "Anyhow, our decision stands. We cannot and will not destroy you. You are too valuable, as I said before."

Edward began to back out through the door, a wild look coming to his eyes. "No! I won't join you thugs and corrupted government officials! I refuse! I am my own person!" he screamed before vanishing out the door.

Aro repressed a sigh. "Felix, will you see him out? Knowing Jane, she's given him the wrong directions."

Felix held back a laugh as he nodded and walked out of the room.

* * *

Demetri and Felix watched from the shadows as Edward numbly took off his shirt and prepared to leave. Edward hadn't detected them yet, the blinded idiot. Without his gift, he was almost as senseless as a human. Pitiful.

The animal-drinker sighed and rolled his shoulders back, closing his eyes. He was prepared to do anything. He would do anything to reunite with his singer, the one that would complete him if he had consumed her. He wanted to consume her, so long ago. Now, it was too late.

Edward flung his shirt to the side and let out one last sigh. He steeled himself and made to walk out of the alley.

_** "Edward!"**_

A family of children were passing by the mouth of the alley. They gave the running girl a curious look before continuing on, enjoying the day of Saint Marcus.

The clock had started to chime, and the girl's next words were snatched away by the toll. But he must have heard, must have thought it was the voice of an angel from the next life.

_**"No! Edward, look at me!"**_

The girl rammed into the vampire a second before he would have entered the sun. She was frantically pushing him, trying to force him inside.

The animal-drinker looked down at the human girl, the frantic, panicked mortal in his arms.

_**"Amazing, Carlisle was right,"**_ he whispered, running a finger over her face in awe. _**"Edward, you've got to get back into the shadows. You have to move!"** _

"At least she's aware of the rules," Demetri muttered to Felix.

_** "I can't believe how quick it was. I didn't feel a thing-they're very good,"**_ He sounded almost _religious_ as he spoke to this girl._** "Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty."**_

Demetri cocked his head. Wasn't that from the one Shakespeare play that Isabella scorned above all else, the one about the 'star-crossed youth' or whatever?

_**"You smell just exactly the same as always. So maybe this is **__**hell. I don't care. I'll take it."**_ Yep, the animal-drinker had officially gone insane. Brilliant.

_**"I'm not dead,"**_ the girl gasped out, clutching a stitch in her side._** "And neither are you! Please Edward, we have to move. They can't be far away!"** _

"Clever little human," Felix murmured back to Felix.

_**"What was that?"**_

_**"We're not dead, not yet! But we have to get out of here before the Volturi-"** _

The animal drinker finally understood. _Too late, idiot._

Demetri and Felix stepped out from the shadows slowly, becoming visible. Edward snarled quietly and pushed the girl behind him, as if to protect her. As if he were some sort of predator defending his kill.

_**"Greetings, gentlemen,"**_ Edward said with the pretense of sounding professional. _**"I don't think I'll be requiring your services today. I would appreciate it very much, however, if you would send my thanks to your masters."** _

"Our masters?" Demetri whispered mockingly. Felix snorted in response.

_**"Shall we take this conversation to a more appropriate venue?"**_ the broad vampire asked, crossing his arms.

_**"I don't believe that will be necessary."** _Edward sounded more firm, yet more wavering. He did not want to return to the Castle with the girl, as if he could protect her from the horrors he did not show her yet._** "I know your instructions, Felix. I haven't broken any rules."**_

_**"Felix merely meant to point out the proximity of the sun,"**_ Demetri purred._** "Let us seek better cover."**_

_**"I'll be right behind you, Kristen, why don't you go back to the square and enjoy the festival?"** _ _Pitiful little animal-drinker, you are not as smart as you think,_ Demetri thought, watching the frightened human quail under his intense crimson gaze. Edward glowered at his thought.

_**"No, bring the girl,"**_ Felix sneered.

**_"I don't think so,_"** Edward growled out, shifting into a not-so-subtle fighting pose, one that the human girl could easily have spotted.

_**"No,"**_ the girl whispered.

"A smart one, he's found," Demetri analysed to Felix, who rumbled wordlessly in agreement.

_**"Shh,"**_ he murmured, as if the guards couldn't or wouldn't hear. _**"Felix, not here. Our dear king wants them to stay,"**_ Demetri admonished theatrically. He redirected his words to Edward. _**"Aro would simply like to speak with you again, if you have decided not to force our hand after all."**_

_**"Certainly,"**_ Edward said, sounding almost grateful for Demetri. _**"But the girl goes free."**_ _The girl? Not my mate? Interesting._

_**"I'm afraid that's not possible."**_ Demetri let a note of apology seep in for the human's benefit. _**"We do have rules to obey." **_

_**"Then I'm afraid that I'll be unable to accept Aro's invitation, Demetri."**_ This little boy was really trying to get his self-proclaimed mate out of here, wasn't he? _**"That's just fine,"**_ Felix said in a calming manner. Demetri could see the human relax slightly.

_**"Aro will be disappointed,"**_ Demetri said with a dramatic huff.

_**"I'm sure he'll survive the letdown,"**_ the animal-drinker retorted.

The two guards prepared to take the two by force. They would have to bring the human; it was the law. The animal-drinker had broken one of the most fundamental laws. The punishment was death, didn't he realize that they were being lenient enough as it was?

"Calm down, all of you. You don't have to act like you're just Aro's little bitches, after all." Alice approached the slight confrontation, with sunglasses, gloves, a long coat, and jeans on. She wasn't disobeying at all. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her eyebrow raised in a challenging manner.

"I approve of this one, Demi," Felix whispered. Demetri rolled his eyes. "You've got Heidi," he shot back just as quietly.

"We've got a bit of company, y'know." Demetri had noticed the collection of humans, police and tourist alike. But they knew exactly who the Volturi guards were. The tourists would be easily reassured and sent off. With a dismissive shake of his head, Demetri decided to try and convince the stupid animal-drinker back into the Castle.

_**"Please, Edward, let's be reasonable,"**_ he said.

_**"Let's. And we'll leave quietly now, with no one the wiser."**_ He was just trying too hard. They were in the right. They would be found. Did Edward not remember Demetri's gift?

Demetri let out an amused huff._** "At least let us discuss this more privately,"** _he bantered back, as though he and Edward were just two friends in a bar. The police must thought there was a stopped rape or something, if they hadn't left yet. Edward didn't notice.

_**"No,"**_ he said, sounding like a child in a candy store who hadn't been allowed to get anything and wanted one particular sweet _right now_.

Demetri stiffened. He could smell the distinctive scent of cinnamon and lemon coming from behind him. He knew what that was. Felix grinned at Demetri's sudden enthusiasm. Demetri shot him a half-hearted glare.

_**"Enough,"**_ a voice rang out. Demetri turned to give the newcomer a smirk. Of course Aro had sent Jane out to get them when he hadn't returned quickly enough.

The human looked completely confused when the small-statured female approached them, and even more so when Jane discreetly traced a finger along Demetri's arm as she passed. "Tease," he accused. She smirked right back. Felix and Demetri drew back, knowing that no one would convince Edward better than Demetri's mate.

_**"Jane."** _His voice sounded like radio static. Alice and the human looked at Jane with varying degrees of interest.

_**"Follow me,"**_ Jane intoned, twirling around and grabbing Demetri's arm as she walked off. Demetri gave Felix a look that read _'Not a single word.'_ before laying his arm across Jane's shoulders and reveling in her presence. Felix watched the couple walk off with a smirk before gesturing to the rest of the party to follow the two. Alice walked right away, not even giving her so-called brother and his so-called mate a second look.

"Alice, why are you here?" Edward hissed out.

"I made a mistake, letting Rose know what she did. I came to make sure you didn't do something befitting a shithead like you. But look, you still did it. You got us on the Volturi's radar. Good going, asshat," Alice snarled back, barely looking over her shoulder to throw the words at him. The human looked completely confused and not a little terrified at her intense outward hatred. Felix was completely amused, but he knew that a bitchfest was not the best thing to have right now.

"Now now, play nice, children," he chastised. Alice threw him a dirty look. They approached the secret entrance to the public facade. Jane didn't know why Aro insisted on using it. She held back a sigh as she kicked the cover of the hole off and nonchalantly jumped down, Demetri following. Alice knew what to do.

_**"Alice will catch you,"**_ Edward tried to tell Kristen before Felix cut in. "You would make the human jump down a hole into the territory of unknown vampires, animal-drinker?"

Without another word, he roughly picked Kristen up and slid down. At the bottom, he dropped her back onto the ground. Alice just watched the human struggle to her feet. Edward emerged from the tunnel with not a small amount of disgust. "Why does the king make us use these entrances, anyways?" Demetri grumbled, leading the small group along with Jane down the hallways to the main building. "Hell if I know, Demi," Jane responded, leaning into him again.

Kristen watched the mated pair. It was almost as if they needed to be touching each other whenever possible, and that they understood each other's thoughts with a single look. She didn't really feel that way with Edward at all. Was that what mating was like? Why didn't she have that feeling?

Being a vampire must be really confusing or something.

* * *

****Yay new chapter yay. I think I caught all the Meyer quotes...****

I will update again tomorrow with the rest~

-Shriayle


	44. Syzygy: Partial

**Yay new chapter-slash-continuation of last chapter!**

**So I uploaded a document with something like 4,730 words for this and now FF is telling me it's 4,878 words. Okay then.**

**It was still hard to keep this below 10,000 words at the end of the day... Eh, I still kinda failed. Didn't want to split into awkward 3300 word chapters, after all. Not much important actually happened, but reactions are still fun to write and stuff.  
**

**POLL IS CLOSED! Winner is _A Thousand Cranes_! Which, happily enough, is the only one that I have an intelligible plot for, so yay.**

**REPLIES TO REVIEWS:  
**

**Maiannaise: Edward is the dumbest of the dumb. He's dumber than Kristen. But he's still somewhat intelligent. Like average vamp intelligent.**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Eh, not really. They looked similar because of hair color and eye color (when Isabella was human lol) but still a lot different. Like talking to two girls with blonde-hair-blue-eyes combo.**

**Lorindol Tinuviel: Speaking of Lord of the Rings, my final venture is to write a LotR fic. But the series is too perfect to even think about something to play with ahhhh I really don't like having OCs as main characters too. The mating thing made more sense when I first thought of it; I have this entire chart/map of relationships that I stopped filling out around chapter 20. Also MISTAKE CORRECTED THANK YOU FOR THAT. I think I just copy-pasted the dialogue and altered it in some places to reflect the different relationships between characters. Like Jane would never let Aro kiss her. Nope nope nope. And subs are so much better than dubs srsly. We don't really have too many 'foreign movies' in our theaters (then again, I live an hour away from Hollywood) so all subbed stuff is mostly Internet fodder that I've seen. Like Japanese animations or something.**

**YunaNeko: Thank you again!  
**

**Arabella Whitlock: It was the only place that made sense to cut it at xD  
**

**I am in Loki's Army: NOT TRUE I HAD JOHN PRANK LENNA I SWEAR TO GOD I PROMISE YOU. RIGHT WHEN MAISIE JOINED THE VOLTURI. at least, I think it was Lenna. It was the first time I introduced her gift, I remember that. and I DID UPDATE SEE :)**

**rinlovesyou: Thank you!?**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: Oh, Alice. How I love to change thee. Also, if she weren't different than canon!Alice, then it would be really awk because she's technically still hung up on Jasper.**

**MrsHemmingHood: Thank you! And I always thought Didyme was pronounced "DIE-dim-mé". Not sure how accurate it is, to be honest. Also, it's long since been established that Jasper's mate is Maisie.  
**

**Alice (Guest): Fun fact: Doc Manager is a butt. Yeah, my temporary dividers look kinda like "= = = = # # # # #= = = =" so I can keep track of how many there are. And I copy-pasted a bunch of this from a website with _New Moon_ readily available, so it messed up my formatting -_- Everything's been fixed, though. Yes, I've been waiting for these moments for months now and therefore am very excited to write them all out heheh. Kristen is a bit of a brighter bulb than Bella ever was, and Alice is just a really pissy person when she's upset. I love writing her. You also gave me a heart attack with the Gianna comment. Did I ever mention her? I'm rather confused about that; I thought I uploaded the wrong document by mistake. The Edward toddler tidbit is to show just how scornful she is of this Edward, if she compared him to a little kid from like 1100 years ago. Jane has a bit of a problem with people breaking rules i.e. don't harm children trauma, so she took Kristen's knowledge of the world a little bit personally. The rabbit in the wolf's den is a bit more accurate as well than the entire 'lion and the lamb' bullshit Meyer pulled out. I honestly didn't get that at all. How does Isabella treat Kristen? Well, you should see that here. Also yay Jasper/Maisie cuteness.**

* * *

The guards walked besides the prisoners. Everyone was silent, and no one dared break the silence with an awkward word.

They entered an elevator ("At least Aro listens to us for some things," Felix had quipped, making the two other Volturi guards and Alice snort and Edward grimace). Kristen looked for the little panel telling her how many floors they were going up, but it wasn't anywhere, leaving her to wonder how fast they were travelling up.

They left the elevator, and Jane, Demetri, and Felix finally took off their heavy hoods. Kristen noticed how they seemed to be so comfortable and full of life, almost like a human. Jane had a slight rosy pallor to her otherwise snow white face, and Demetri had a distinctive olive pallor to his skin that looked healthy and almost normal, not weird like she thought it would have. Felix's hair was a dark brown, practically black, but Jane had light brown hair that was practically blond. All three of them had hair that looked conditioned and thriving, while Edward's and Alice's looked limp and dead.

They entered a much more comforting area of the Castle. It looked like a government building, like the Capitol that Kristen once visited on a school trip. Pink and yellow flowers were arranged in a perfect bouquet soaking in a vase, and there was a beautifully woven tapestry on the ground, so perfect that Kristen dared not to step on it. A dark-skinned woman with eyes the color of malachite sat at the desk, writing something down, but she glanced up when the entourage passed by.

_**"**__Buon pomeriggio__**, Jane," **_she called out. ('Good afternoon')

Jane gave her a nod of acknowledgement and replied _**("Gianna.")**_ Felix passed by, saying that he'd tell Damian to come and relieve her of her impatience with a wink, to which Gianna blushed and giggled.

Down another hallway, Alec stood in a shimmering grey suit, complete with a black tie that Renata picked out and his cloak. _**"Jane."**_

_**"Alec,"**_ she responded, breaking away from Demetri's hold finally to hug him before returning to her mate's side.

_**"They send you out for one and you come back with two. . . and a half. Nice work, sister,"**_ Alec quipped. "My question is, why did I have to wear this stupid thing to this?"

Jane giggled at his discontent. He gave her a dark look.

Alec turned to the golden-eyed one with them. He marveled at how different his eyes looked to John's; the once-werewolf had eyes that danced with life, Edward's looked as lifeless as two drops of amber. _**"Welcome back, Edward. You seem in a better mood." **_

_**"Marginally."**_

Alec laughed to himself. His gaze fell onto the human who was standing beside Edward. _**"And this is the cause of all the trouble?"**_

Edward just vaguely smiled.

_**"Dibs,"**_ Felix said, sounding bored. This meeting needed more excitement. Edward's eyes widened and burned with a fury. Her blood was _his_, only his!

Edward let out a challenging growl. Felix bowed mockingly, accepting the challenge.

"Calm down, dumbass," Alice hissed out, smacking Edward's head.

They glared at each other for a while before Edward let out a loud sigh and turned away. She had obviously won that one.

_**"Aro will be so pleased to see you again,"**_ Alec said pleasantly, pretending as though Felix didn't do what he did. Aro would have been very amused with that. Jane would definitely recount it for him, but there was a task at hand.

_**"Let's not keep him waiting,"**_ Jane growled out.

They walked down a couple more hallways. Jane felt a grudging admiration for the human's tenacity. She had not once asked the vampires to slow down or to carry her or something.

Edward stiffened as he felt his gift fade away again. It had been completely absent for Demetri, Jane, and Alec, and sometimes for Felix, but now everything was gone except for Alice. The other thoughts he had heard were gone, and it freaked him out.

Standing outside of the throne room was, naturally, Isabella. Aro had sent out the three siblings to guard the Castle for this plan, and they followed it to the letter.

"Siblings, you have returned with more than what Aro requested," she called out. They went to her side immediately to quickly embrace her.

"That's what I told Jane," Alec said in amusement.

"You two are meanies," Jane muttered. Isabella noticed Kristen's confusion at Jane's sudden immaturity. Her eyes skated over the party, hardening when she saw Alice and Edward. The two main players in fate that Reina identified.

"Well then," she murmured, "we'll have to bring them all in, is that it?"

"I'm afraid so, Isabella," Demetri responded. Felix just gave a brusque nod.

Isabella suppressed a sigh. "Let me announce it to the antechamber," she said, entering the throne room deftly.

She came back out and gestured for them to come with her. Isabella saw the human's eyes widen with wonder at how the throne room looked on the inside: marble floors and pillars, with tapestries and paintings hung up around the walls. She wondered how and why the human didn't know so much. They were connoisseurs of the arts, after all.

Only Aro was on his throne. The other two evidently wanted a more dramatic entrance. _**"Jane**_, Alec, Isabella, _**you've returned!"**_ he declared with his 'professional' voice. The three siblings exchanged identical smirks.

Aro held out a hand for anyone, and the twins quickly swiped it with a finger.

"Yes, sir, we have brought him back, as well as others," Jane responded, bowing slightly.

"Excellent," Aro pronounced. He turned to the foreign entourage and gave a quick, almost imperceptible grimace.

"Ah, and Alice and Kristen as well? Good job, you three."

"What are we, chopped liver?" Felix muttered. Demetri rolled his eyes at the other guard's immaturity. Isabella barely held back a laugh at Felix's obviously fake indignant expression.

Aro looked at the grumpy guard with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He was desperately trying to hide the emotion from his face. "Felix, go get my brothers from their studies, if you would. They would not want to miss this."

"Yes, sir." Felix walked back into the hallway.

_**"You see, Edward? What did I tell you? Aren't you glad that I didn't give you what you wanted yesterday?"**_ Aro's gaze became much more steely when regarding the golden-eyed vampire.

_**"Yes, Aro, I am,"**_ Edward said, finally looping an arm around Kristen in a show of possessiveness. Alice huffed.

_**"I love a happy ending,"**_ Aro murmured, giving Alice a confused look. Did she know? _**"They are so rare. But I want the whole story. How did this happen? Alice? Your brother seemed to think you infallible, but apparently there was some mistake."**_ He let himself go off on a tangent to evaluate this new vampire.

"Pfft, I'm not perfect whatsoever," Alice said, a hint of sadness coming across her features. "I make mistakes. I cling to the future. I am opinionated and at times, selfish. I regret it sometimes."

"Mm," Aro hummed wordlessly and sympathetically.

Edward tried to give Alice a look. She ignored him.

"Ah, Alice, don't worry. I'm sure that you will find your happily-ever-after yourself one day." She gave him a horrified look. _How did he know?!_

_**"Aro needs physical contact to hear your thoughts, but he hears much more **_

_**than I do. You know I can only hear what's passing through your head in the moment. Aro hears every thought your mind has ever had."**_ Edward explained.

Alice immediately glowered. Her brother had obviously touched Aro's hands and fed him all the information about Alice's past, the past she wanted buried. _Little prick!_

Edward raised an eyebrow. Alice shook her head dismissively.

The door opened again. Two more figures entered with Felix, one with snowy-white hair and a dour expression, the other with longer dark brown hair tied back with a ribbon. They took their seats in the other two thrones.

_**"Marcus, Caius, look**_ at this sight. Kristen _**is alive after all, and Alice is here with her! Isn't that wonderful?"**_ One could not miss the hint of sarcasm in Aro's voice.

"Indeed," Marcus said with a bored expression. Caius let out a snort.

_**"It's just so difficult to understand, even now. How can you stand so close to her like that?"**_ Aro gave Edward a hard look. He knew that Edward must be using the poor human somehow.

_**"It's not without effort,"**_ Edward answered calmly, not knowing of Aro's suspicions.

_**"But still-to tua cantante! What a waste!"**_ Aro tried to get a reaction out of Edward.

_**"I look at it more as a price." **_

_**"A very high price." **_

_**"Opportunity cost." **_

"The strongest of attractions to a human, both a blessing and a curse. Many never find theirs, and those who haven't would believe you, ah..."

_**"Waste it."**_

Aro nodded contemplatively. "You do remind me of Carlisle in many ways. Headstrong, and unbelievably stubborn about not drinking from our, ah, natural source."

_**"Carlisle outshines me in many other ways as well,"**_ Edward said, chin raised.

"I'm sure," Isabella murmured to her siblings, who just grinned at her obvious distaste.

_**"I certainly never thought to see Carlisle bested for self-control of all things, but you put him to shame,"**_ Aro mocked.

_**"Hardly."**_

"I never imagined that Carlisle would be able to do it. Teach others. Your restraint! _**To inure yourself against such a siren call, not just once but again and again-if I had not felt it myself, I would not have believed."**_

With that, Marcus brushed against Aro's hand briefly. Aro exchanged a look with his brother-in-law; Marcus nodded discreetly before sitting back again.

_**"Just remembering how she appeals to you..."**_ Aro said, as if Marcus had never interrupted. _**"It makes me thirsty. Don't be disturbed,"**_ Aro reassured him. _**"I mean her no harm. But I am so curious, about one thing in particular." **_Aro glanced to Isabella first, who gestured dismissively, and then turned to the human.

"Kristen, _**would you be so kind as to allow me to try-to see if you are an exception for me, as well?"**_ So that was what the look was about.

Kristen looked appalled, and looked to Edward desperately, as if searching for a way out. Edward nodded to her in defeat. She had to do it. The human extended a hand, and Aro reached out, grabbed her fingers briefly, and let go.

_**"Interesting,"**_ he said tersely, leaning back into his throne.

Edward was more than a little smug for his mate's shield, no matter how maddening it was.

Aro gave a conspiratorial grin. _**"I wonder if she is immune to our other talents..."**_

He gestured to the pale-brown haired guard. _**"Jane, dear?"**_

"No!" Edward howled. Alice ignored him, as did the rest of the Volturi.

_**"Yes, Master?"**_ Jane asked, her teeth gritting out the last word. How she _hated_ calling others Master.

Edward was pacing about, looking threatened and panicked. Alice slowly shied away from him, as did Kristen. _Poor girl must be the most confused human on the continent,_ Isabella mused. Felix chuckled to himself again.

_**"I was wondering, if **_Kristen_** is immune to your gifts,"**_ Aro said. A snarl ripped out of one of the visitors.

"Edward, you idiot!" Alice burst out as the mentioned vampire leapt at Jane, hands outstretched.

Jane grabbed his wrist and flung him to the ground. As the mind reader tried to get back up and reorient himself, Jane sent Edward to the ground with a quick spear of pain. He fell, spasms of pain wracking his body. Jane gave him an uninterested look before increasing the pain. Edward finally began to scream, letting out the breath that the hall seemed to collectively take.

_**"Stop!"**_ the human shrieked. Alice held the girl's arm. "Kristen, don't do that," she whispered.

"Jane, that'll do for a public presentation," Aro said. Caius sniggered behind him.

Aro gestured to Kristen. Jane turned her gaze upon her.

Nothing happened. Jane watched her spears of pain shatter against the girl's shield. She didn't really feel bad at all; she hated torturing mortals.

"Sir, do I..?" Isabella asked quietly.

"No, that is unnecessary," Aro whispered back. Alice caught their exchange, gave them a curious look, but then looked away with a shrug.

Jane let out a disgruntled noise as more of a show than anything else.

_**"Don't worry, Jane, she confounds us all,"**_ Aro said.

Jane just shrugged slightly and satisfied herself by glaring at Kristen, who shrank back.

_**"So what now?"**_ Aro murmured.

The three prisoners stiffened, Kristen visibly trembling.

"I'm afraid we'll have to follow protocol, Aro," Caius called out from his self-inflicted silence. He stood up. "We are to keep them for three days for questioning. The human's needs will be accounted for. After the three days, we come up with a verdict. That is our way. We should not expedite the process."

Marcus nodded solemnly.

"And mote it shall be," Aro pronounced. He turned cold eyes to the three in the room. "Well, we'll have Gianna care for the human for now," he pondered, "and I'll ask a lower guard to care for the other two. But we must disperse; Heidi has of course by now brought our esteemed guests. We will have to reconvene at a later time anyhow."

"Isabella, please fetch Lilianna from the back room for me. We will have her tend to the Mr. and Ms. Cullens for now."

"Brandon," a voice called out. The three kings looked up, slightly startled.

Alice took a breath. "I-I'm Alice Brandon now. I revoke all claim the Cullens had over my name. I will remain in their coven, but I want to keep my name." Edward had a betrayed look on his face, and Kristen looked interested. Alice ignored both of them, staring directly at the kings, her eyes darting over their faces.

Aro nodded. "That is your choice. Now, all of you, begone. We have an important meeting coming up with President Sarkozy."

Isabella bowed stiffly before she turned to the visitors. "Well, come on, then," she said, gesturing to the group impatiently. She led them back out the Castle through the corridors, purposefully taking a different route to the receptionist's desk to confuse the others.

When she arrived with the three others in tow, Gianna glanced up and stood. "Miss Isabella!" she said, sounding startled. "It's been a while since you've left the inner recesses."

"Aro found it necessary for these three to have to stay with us, as is our custom. Would you be so kind as to direct Kristen to a room with a bed close by both a washroom and a kitchen? I know there are a few empty ones in the south wing."

"Certainly, Miss Isabella," Gianna replied easily. "You will have to ask for someone else to come take over the front desk in the case that M. Sarkozy arrives earlier than scheduled."

Isabella nodded. "I will ask Corin to come take over for about an hour. Is that long enough?"

"It should be," Gianna replied with a smile. She turned to the other human in the room and held out a hand. "Welcome to the Castle, Kristen," she said, speaking perfect English as opposed to the Italian she had been conversing with Isabella in. "I am Gianna, as you should know. If you could follow me, please, I will take you to a room and let you settle in. I will also ask one of the other guards to go into the marketplace and get you a few changes of clothes."

"Er, thanks," Kristen stuttered out, uncertainly taking Gianna's offered hand and following the dark-skinned human out. She sent one last look back at Edward and Alice before she disappeared around the corner.

"Well, I'm going to need to go in the back, anyhow," Isabella said with a sigh. "Can I trust you two to stay put here, or do I need to get my sister back out here to make sure you do?"

"We don't need a guide, we can figure things out on our own," Edward snarled.

Isabella's hand went to her side and a second later she had a small knife held up directly to Edward's face. "Don't tempt me, boy," she sneered.

"You can't hurt me with that," he replied, his eyes going from the blade back to her face and back down. He had the audacity to laugh at her face. "It's just a metal stick."

"It would be, if it weren't made of ashes from the criminals we punish fused into a lightweight steel and silver alloy, child," Isabella said. "And, I'll have you know that a vampire's eye, especially that of an animal-drinker, is far less impervious than the rest of the body. In fact, I'm pretty certain that it's no thicker or tougher than leather in your weak body. I can carve those pretty golden eyes up faster than you could stop me. You are in our domain now, and when I ask you to stay put, I expect respect for all members of the guard along with it."

Alice watched the exchange with some level of perturbed interest. Despite the fact that she really hated Edward, he was her brother. She had to protect him.

"Excuse me, Isabella, was it? I will make sure that my brother doesn't get up to any foolishness here, if you need to go to a more secret place of the Castle."

Isabella's eyes darted over to Alice's. She saw nothing but earnestness and a spot of fear.

Isabella nodded brusquely and sheathed her knife. "See to it that he behaves," she snarled before walking away down the hallways.

Alice blinked. "Don't get on her bad side, bro," she managed to say afterwards.

Edward snorted. "I'm not scared of the Volturi. They can't harm me; they want me. Didn't you hear? 'You're valuable', Aro kept saying. I bet that they want me to join."

"They don't seem very eager to ask."

Meanwhile, Isabella stalked down the corridors. Alec noticed her fouler mood and walked beside her.

"They made me take out the knife, Alec. You know it's bad when that happens," she growled out, looking more and more incensed.

Alec nodded, making sure his own blade was there. Aro had given them all the daggers years ago, telling them that it was a final show of power, the only weapon in the world besides firearms (which vampires can't even use because of the proximity to heat) that would harm an immortal. They hadn't brandished them at anyone before, but then again the Cullen kid had a superiority complex larger than the moon. The Brandon girl seemed okay now, but Isabella knew that Jasper would not be happy running into her.

"I need to go warn Whitlock and the others back there about them. Also I need to get Lilianna. Maybe she can hammer some sense into them," Isabella muttered.

Alec gave her another nod. "I was going to the back room to get Renata, myself. I'll just tag along."

The two siblings walked down the hallways. The only noises audible were the sound of their shoes, clacking on the ground.

In front of the white-cloaks' game room, Jasper sat and listened with his eyes closed. Hearing Isabella and Alec's approach, he looked up and opened his eyes.

"Good news, the Cullens are still as stupid as ever and we get to prosecute them. Bad news, that Alice chick is here, and Eddie's staying with us so we can carry out the trial," Isabella summed up. Jasper sighed, the air escaping his lungs in a quick gust, and he just stood up and stretched.

"Well, now that I've got the li'l lady, I don't have to worry about Al or Ed," he said, smiling slightly. "I might have to go talk to the boy-girl though, just to clear the air. Maybe I'll bring Mais with me. And thanks for the warning."

"Pleasure," Isabella said dryly. She peeked her head into the room.

"Do any of you know where Lilianna and Corin are? I know they sometimes hang out in here with Reina."

"They're here," Renata called out, walking over to the doorway to hug her mate.

"You two are sickening," Lilianna commented, walking up behind her with a smirk. Her grey cloak stood out in the room filled with white-cloaks, and Isabella wondered why she hadn't spotted her earlier. Renata turned her head to stick her tongue out at the blonde.

"Well, Dasher, can you go down to the receptionist's desk and get rooms for the two animal-drinkers there? They should be suitably far from the human. I'm not getting Alec to mute their throats."

"Thanks for taking away my autonomy, sis," Alec droned out.

"Welcome, little brother. Not like you would have done it without a king's order, anyhow."

"True."

Lilianna nodded, but before she left, Isabella called out, "Corin, Gianna might be busy with the girl. If you could take over front desk for a bit, it would be nice."

"Alright, I'm going," Corin agreed easily.

Lilianna grabbed Corin's arm firmly with a wicked grin. "Oh, no, you aren't about to-" Corin's complaint was cut off when Lilianna dashed down the hallway as fast as she could. The remaining vampires distinctly heard Corin scream, "LILIANNA, I CAN'T FEEL MY FEET! SLOW DOWN, DAMN IT!"

"Those two," Isabella muttered to herself, shaking her head. "If Corin wasn't mated to Santiago, I would have assumed they were each other's mates."

"They're just really close," Renata responded.

"Mm."

Maisie peeked her head out from under the table, where she had been sitting. Jasper walked over and pulled her up. "What are you doing?"

"I dropped something," she mumbled, scratching the back of her head.

"Enough of that embarrassment. Embrace your oddities," Jasper said, making a weird face at her. She laughed quietly and just nodded.

"And, with that, I'm off. I'll be seeing you," Isabella said, flicking a hand as she turned on her heel and walked out.

* * *

Kristen had settled into her room. It was twice the size of her room in Forks, with a comfortable bed and a bookshelf, but that was about it. It had a mahogany floor, with a fluffy rug on half of it. The oak bookshelf was empty, and the closet that was built into the wall was just as barren. She would probably scrounge up a few things around town and maybe even in the Castle itself, but that was all. It was only three days, after all.

"Kristen, are you ready to go?"

The human jumped at the sudden appearance of a vampire. It was the girl with the reddish-brown hair from before. She looked as though she was turned when she was only slightly older than Kristen herself, so maybe at like 16 or 17, but her eyes showed that she lived far longer than that.

"Um, yeah, I mean," Kristen stuttered.

"Hmph. Well, I've got more than enough euros to keep you sated, so let's go now while the sun is setting."

"You mean, you don't just wear your cloak in public?" Kristen finally noticed the long-sleeved grey jacket, black leggings, and white t-shirt that the vampire was wearing. She had a pair of sunglasses propped up on a black hat on her head as well. The hat looked like it was designed to block sun from the face as much as possible.

"Of course not, the mortals would be confused and the tourists would take too many pictures," Isabella snorted. "We're burning daylight. Come."

Isabella directed Kristen out of the public entrance, and a few hours later, they came back with two more shirts and one pair of jeans that Kristen herself selected. Isabella had been stiff and unresponsive to Kristen, but whenever a local came up to talk to her, she would become animated and speak to them in rapid Italian. Most of the people looked happy to see her.

"Why do you get along so well with people?" Kristen asked curiously.

"We are their government officials. They are always excited to see us. We also go into public more often than not."

"But you look so young!"

"The wonders of the holes in human logic."

Kristen had no response to that.

When they returned to the Castle, Kristen had found out that Isabella had both a piano and a bookshelf filled with novels and epics in her room and asked (rather politely) if she could go see. Isabella grudgingly agreed, only because she was so polite about it. Kristen had looked over the book titles and was surprised to see that her personal favorite was missing.

"You don't like Emily Brontë?" she asked in a startled voice.

"You're talking about _Wuthering Heights_, I would imagine? That book is utter trash. The romance is forced, the ending is frankly almost pedophilic, and overall, it's just an adequate first novel." Isabella responded from her doorway.

"What? It's a beautiful love story!" Kristen said passionately.

"There is no beautiful love story, just a horrific tragedy that could have been prevented if the two just talked to each other," Isabella said. "Besides, the only author who ever wrote one book that was amazing was Harper Lee, and that book was on racism in children. Other authors are better known for their later books, once they figured out what was going on." Isabella had been casually playing through _Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum _by Debussy as she spoke.

"A Debussy? Do you at least like _Clair de Lune_?" Kristen asked, Americanizing the French title. Isabella grimaced at her pronunciation.

"_Clair de Lune_," Isabella carefully enunciated, her accent slipping in from all those years ago, "was another early work that is over-played and over-praised. There are many other works that Debussy wrote, most of which are far better at expressing some emotion than _Clair de Lune_ could ever hope to do. Really, you need to study these classical writers and composers once they've developed as people a bit more, much like those you surround yourself with. Like that boy you call your mate. He is immature and weak, whiny and arrogant. Why do you allow yourself to stay?"

"Don't talk that way about Edward! He's a good person."

"He has a God complex over you, human. And there are no such thing as good people, only people with good intentions. Our actions dictate what we choose."

Isabella closed the piano lid and sighed. She gracefully swept over to the bookshelf like a wraith, glanced over it quickly, chose a new-looking book, and took it out of the shelf. She practically flung it at Kristen, who fumbled with it as she tried to catch the volume.

"That is Dante's _Divine Comedy_, a new English translation. Your dear saint would think he would be in the first circle of the Inferno. Truthfully, he is in the fourth or maybe even the seventh circle."

"I've never read this," Kristen said, moving as though to hand it back.

"Keep it. I've got enough copies already. Keep it, read it, and understand it. Now, it's time for you to get back in your room."

* * *

When Edward was released with an ultimatum and Alice promised to uphold it, he noticed the new book that Kristen was reading through. There were a couple of lines in it written in an elegant script with some sort of dark colored ink, but he didn't recognize it.

"Who gave you that, Kristen?" he asked coldly. He hated Dante.

"One of the guards. She told me that it was a good book after telling me that _Wuthering Heights_ wasn't exactly the pinnacle of literature."

"Well, give it here. I won't have you reading that."

"It's a good book," Kristen responded, holding the volume close and staring Edward in the eyes.

"Let her keep it. Not like you can stop her from reading anyhow, Eddie," Alice said, hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling. Jasper had indeed sought her out, made sort-of amends with her, promised to let her meet his actual mate and feel the connection they had with one another, and promised to keep in touch.

And so, the time passed for the three as they waited for an airplane home.

* * *

**Yeah, it ends abruptly, but I wanted to squeeze in the thing about _Wuthering Heights _and _Clair de Lune._ I mean, yes, WH was Emily Brontë's only novel before she died, but there are a couple creepy CathyxHeathcliff things that I can't really let go. And _Clair de Lune_ was written at 28 and _Doctor Granus ad Parnassum_ at around 36. In between those times, he wrote a string quartet that utilized a kind of scale that is almost never used, showing his experimentation, and then propelled his name into the spotlight not with CdL but with an orchestral-ish thing called _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune _(which was itself written four years after _Clair de Lune_).  
**

**Before I go off on a giant musical tangent, thanks for reading! Eclipse storyline next-!**

**~Shriayle**


	45. Syzygy: Total

**300 reviews?! You guy spoil me. :3**

**If this chapter is confusing in any way, be sure to contact me and ask for clarification, whether it be by PM or review.**

**REPLIES: **

**Lorindol Tinuviel: LotR is the ultimate fantasy series, to me. It took Tolkien so long just to build the world, it's beautifully written, and, though I'm not a fan of the male to female character ratio, all of the characters are completely loveable. Except Grima/Sauron/Saruman. They can go suck eggs, in my opinion. On the Brontë sisters... I much preferred ****_Jane Eyre_**** over ****_Wuthering Heights_****. While I didn't really like the ending, I felt that Jane was a more well-developed character than Cathy of WH. Also I believe I mentioned ****_Divina Commedia _****before, but Isabella enjoys it as a read. I can imagine that she doesn't have any idea that Kristen doesn't have the same level of literary mastery as Isabella does. Isabella has more than 1000 years of experience, after all! The shield thing was foreshadowed long ago. As in, before the Volturi were in their Castle. If you look back and find the section I'm talking about, it'll probably feel like a slap in the face because I was blatantly obvious with the hint. Correction is nice; if you check my profile, I ask people for corrections in any way, shape, or form. It's not bothersome. I don't really understand some authors who seem to get really offended when people point out errors. You can't be perfect, after all. Subbing movies is an amazing invention and hats off to whoever chose to use it first. And I roughly estimate that the year is around 2007/2008. While I will never state it in the fic, I think that Sarkozy would have come to talk to the Volturi kings just to make sure that he has their support, and that would work best in the beginning of his presidency. The only thing that I've heard about Hollande is that he banned homework in elementary schools, to be honest. And I can imagine the stupidly rich people in America doing the same :P**

**bao-earthdragon: Hello, nice to meet you :) Or, at least talk to you now hehe. And thanks for your support and JANE LOVE YAS. I have a list of characters all planned out; it's one of the extras that will be released once the story ends. I currently have 14 extras planned to be posted; they're mostly outtakes from the fic itself, but there are some bonus materials things. The guards were kinda created to be confusing; they were supposed to be faceless, but they also have personalities and names and friends and enemies like any other character. I didn't really like how Meyer didn't even mention some of the guards that showed up in the end of ****_Breaking Dawn_**** in the list of vampires in the Volturi; it seemed almost gimmicky. And there's an ever-so-slight hint if you look at my profile, where I state that, and I quote myself, "I also tend to write pairings that I don't necessarily support when I read the canon book". Therefore, there are actually more possibilities than y'all are allowing yourself to think of. Also early nineteenth century might be a little too old for the person I was thinking of. But if you do wager a guess, I won't verify or discourage it. It's all in good fun :D The traveller thing was tricky since Lenna was tracking Demetri down (or trying to, I guess) but he was part of the entourage that picked Eleazar up, so he was where Eleazar was. Yeah. I'm just a tricksy little author :P**

**I am in Loki's Army: Yeah, Lilianna's yours xD The Jasper/Alice thing had to happen because I don't think Jasper is necessarily an innately bad vampire, he just didn't like Alice's clinginess. And the mate jibe was just something that I had to throw it. Like when you hug a guy friend and people assume you're dating. But vampires don't care for gender as much so... :P**

**lordmantis (guest): Your words are true. For that reason, the Volturi Castle is known as a fortress where criminals get executed by the rest of the continent, and whenever the guards and coven feel like actually hunting, they find themselves searching for pickpockets and prostitutes in the streets.**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Yes, Kristen does indeed know how to speak for herself. Good little human.**

**Alice (Guest): Edward needs to calm down. About WH and CdL, I do have a minor pet peeve of how popular they are, but it's not quite as pronounced as Isabella's (let's face it) hatred really is. And Gianna will actually be turned in this storyverse. Maybe not right now. Maybe not even how long the story is meant to last. But she will be turned. Also yes, gg Jasper. I really didn't notice the 'first book/song/love" thing but it actually works really well, so kudos :P And THANK YOU.  
**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: To be honest, Isabella wouldn't care at all. If she gives someone something, she sees it as their responsibility. She's rather emotionally detached.**

**Guest: Update, yes. When mate? Hmm... ;)**

**Some dialogue was taken from **_**Eclipse**_** and from **_**The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner**_**. They will be marked by a bold/italics combo.  
**

* * *

It had barely been a month since the Cullen 'delegates' had left the Castle. Jamie and Afton were sent to keep collecting information on the coven to make sure that they were staying in line with their promise. They sent back information on the coven, yes, but there was a more worrying discovery.

Humans were going missing.

They had been dying at an alarming rate around the Forks area due to a rogue vampire, one that Carlisle assured Aro had been killed, but their bodies had always turned up somehow. Granted, they were usually being burned when discovered, but that was besides the point. Now, people were disappearing. Jasper had seen this once before, and he had told Aro he suspected a vampire creating a newborn army.

They had no reason to disbelieve him. But why hadn't Carlisle informed them? And why the _heck_ was t coming up now? What were they targeting?

Caius decided they needed more information.

"Jamie, go back to the states and see if you can't gain anything else on the situation. Don't be seen unless you decide you need to be seen. You know the drill, you've been with us for long enough."

Jamie bowed lowly. "Yes, sir, I will ensure that the animal-drinkers do not notice me and that I gain as much more knowledge about the epidemic." With that, he got up, nodded one more time just in case, and then turned to leave.

Within the day, Jamie had made his way back into Forks. He didn't run on the water like the other guards did, but he did know how to get places without drawing attention to himself. He had gone through Asia, getting a boat to take him to Hawaii before flying the rest of the way. Alec's gift had been strengthened carefully for this mission to ensure that Jamie's kills weren't counted in the missing persons cases, and Jamie himself was sure to be careful to leave the state before hunting at all.

Jamie walked off of the airplane, thanking his lucky stars that the Cullens chose to live in a blustery, cold city where wearing coats all year long was seen as normal. He was in a dark grey coat with a pair of jeans and sneakers on his feet. He pretended to stomp his feet on the ground as he walked around, as if to warm them up. The mortals didn't notice him, as they never really did. It was a part of his gift, a gift he was most thankful for.

Jamie had never been the person that everyone knew. He was also never the person that no one knew. He was average, forgettable. For that reason, he sharpened his skill in getting away with things. He became a casual pickpocket, taking someone's keys for example and leaving them maybe three yards away for them to find. Whatever money he stole he always returned by post. He never took jewels from a woman's person, not because it was difficult, but because it would ensue in panic and he would be discovered.

Then, ironically enough, he was discovered. He was bitten, changed, and trained. His sire died when one of the other creations came back after him, but before he was burned to ashes, he told him to go to Italy and seek asylum, like so many others did. He had met Aaron, and he decided to stay. Just like many other guards. He learned from his sire that the other guards were just the same. For whatever reason, his sire was the only one who knew about the inner workings of the Volturi as well as the actual Volturi did. No one else.

But that didn't matter at the moment. He checked into his hotel, wearing the sunglasses that were given to him. When questioned, he smoothly responded that he had just gotten back from the optometrist, or whatever it was that he felt like saying. He put his 'luggage' down; really, it was just a couple of bottles of blood in case he was unable to hunt for longer than he thought he would be able to. He always carried around a few just in case.

Jamie decided that he spent long enough in America without doing anything. He went back downstairs and rented a car to use for the drive over to Forks from Seattle. He didn't foresee using it more than the one time. He just had to ask around if the Cullens were back, after all. Start spreading the rumor that they were. Then he would to go back to their house and lurk outside the open windows again. It was routine for him. He also called the Castle back constantly.

He got out of the car, went to the store, and bought some random props. Food, a random blue-colored drink, a magazine. He counted out exact change, nodded, and walked out. He left the items in the car and drove around a bit more, trying to get accustomed to the town again. It was a rainy little place, so wearing a sweatshirt with a hood wasn't an odd thing to do. For that he was grateful again, since the hood could easily hide his face from the light. He wore his hair in thick bangs again, deciding to wear sunglasses underneath just in case. Who knows; maybe he could pull off being blind sometimes. He just needed the cane, which was also in his luggage back in the room. Hey, he was prepared for everything.

He knew how to make an impression on those animal drinkers, as well. He had the perfect plan meticulously laid out to use when Aro told him to confront Carlisle. But he would have to wait.

He was okay with that. He liked waiting. It gave more of a thrill to his otherwise monotonous job.

He decided to go for a walk. Which meant that he decided to go find the Cullens and maybe follow them around for a bit undetected.

Not a moment had gone by when he noticed the bratty one talking to a human. The human girl that came to the Castle with the brat. He sighed internally but set his sights on them. They were in a house; the sound of some sports game was going on in the background. He hadn't pegged the girl as a sporty type, so she must be living with another male, presumably the father.

_**"We've been monitoring the situation for a few weeks. All the signs are there: the unlikely disappearances, always in the night, the poorly disposed-of corpses, the lack of other evidence. Yes, someone brand-new. And no one seems to be taking responsibility for the neophyte. Well, it's not our problem. We wouldn't even pay attention to the situation if it wasn't going on so close to home. Like I said, this happens all the time. The existence of monsters results in monstrous consequences."**_

Jamie growled under his breath. Of course he didn't find himself concerned with this. He didn't care about anything but getting his next fix, didn't he? Jamie quickly hid his thoughts beneath other ones, ones about getting home for lunch and the sort.

Jamie heard the rustling of a newspaper. _**"It won't be the same for me. You won't let me be like that. We'll live in Antarctica."**_ The human. She was still stuck on the human, though she sounded reluctant about moving to freaking _Antarctica_ for the animal-drinker. Good.

_**"Penguins. Lovely."**_ The bratty Cullen kid again. The sound of something being brushed off a table and falling to the ground. Maybe the newspaper?

_**"Alaska, then, as planned. Only somewhere much more remote than Juneau; somewhere with grizzlies galore." **_

_**"Better,"**_ the Cullen kid responded again. What the hell were these idiots talking about? _**"There are polar bears, too. Very fierce. And the wolves get quite large."**_

The sound of a quick but loud exhale.

_**"What's wrong?"**_ A slight pause. _**"Oh. Never mind the wolves, then, if the idea is offensive to you." **_

_**"He was my best friend, Edward, of course the idea offends me." **_

Jamie had heard enough. There was a shapeshifter involved in this girl's life, that's all he needed to know for now. He quickly dialed Aro's number as he walked away, casting backwards glances at the house. He hoped that the animal-drinker didn't hear him and would come sprinting after him. After walking at human pace for thirty minutes, he realized that the animal-drinkers were just as impaired as Aro had told them they would be. Pitiful little beasts.

_"Jamie? What is it? Have you found anything?" _Caius's sharp voice said. It sounded oddly resonant.

"I'm going to assume that Gianna has informed you of the magic of speaker-phone as she has me."

_"She has indeed, James,"_ Aro's amused, thankfully normal baritone voice was back. _"Why have you chosen to contact us so soon? Any urgent developments?"_

"They plan to go to Alaska, it seems. And they will bring the girl with them."

_"Changed?" _Caius sounded hung up on that one fact. Maybe he needed to calm down a bit.

"I do not think so. But that's not the thing I called you about."

_"Do tell, James,"_ Aro said, sounding serious.

"They were reading the newspaper, I think. And the Cullen child mentioned a widespread slaughter and body-snatching nearby here. Called the person in charge a neophyte. Does this ring any bells?" Jamie heard footsteps racing into the room and someone shouting indistinctly in fury. "I'm going to wager a guess that our personal God of War is now eavesdropping," Jamie added sarcastically.

_"Eavesdropping my ass, you ponce,"_ Jasper retorted. _"Tell me as many details as possible. We need a plan."_

"Certainly, Major," Jamie responded crisply. "I'm about to pick up a paper right now to look into these rumors, but what I caught the Cullen child saying was that there were a lot of poorly hidden corpses in a nearby city, Seattle I think it was, and that someone wasn't taking charge of it. We can assume that it's a newborn, but I'm not sure if it's part of an army or not. I would assume so from the body disappearances. It's all stuff we've heard before."

Jamie heard the sound of someone smashing something. "How valuable was that?" He asked in Italian as he neared more buildings (why on earth was that house so far off from the rest of the town?)

_"Shut up, asshole," _Jasper hissed back in the same language while Jamie heard in the background, _"Just a couple thousand euros, no biggie_._"_ Jamie smirked; it was nice being able to switch languages on the fly. _"Get to the point, will you? What issues are they facing?"_

"Just the usual. Missing people, bodies found. That's all. Wait, one sec-thank you sir-" (Jamie had just been handed his change for the newspaper and had to switch back to English for a second before continuing to converse in rapid Italian) "-anyhow, it looks like there have been four bodies found for now, an unknown number of people missing, and the police are scrambling. They're pulling in forces from other places; Port Angeles, Forks-hey that's right here. Anyhow, there is most likely an army of newborns."

Jamie distinctly heard Jasper cuss like a sailor for at least five seconds straight.

_"Whitlock, I'm thinking of terminating my approval for your and my daughter's relationship."_ Caius's dry comment was perfectly audible. Jamie couldn't help but snicker at the comment.

_"Sorry, sir. I'm off to form some kind of plan against this threat. Five dollars it's for the human girl. Anyhow, keep us posted whenever possible." _With that, Jamie heard Jasper walk out, still muttering.

_"As Jasper has stated, we need more information before moving. I'm thinking of sending a platoon of elites to scare the sire, but we need to know safe houses, patterns, etcetera. If you could, Jamie."_

Jamie felt like nodding briskly at Aro's instructions but knew just how out of place it would look. "Yes sir, I will keep searching."

_"Perfect. Until then, Jamie, keep an ear out for danger. We expect you back at the end of the week."_

Jamie hung up without responding to Aro and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to go on a hunt. But it wasn't the time, and it would only have been for pleasure. After all, Alec's wondrous gift was still in place, and he had no desire to kill if it meant that he would just be slaking an unnecessary thirst.

At least there were a couple of immortals he could hunt instead.

Jamie readjusted his sunglasses, carefully leaving his face in the shadow of his hood, and walked back to the hotel.

* * *

Kristen found herself picking up the book that the one guard in Volterra, Isobel or something, had given her. She didn't really like the _Inferno_ section, preferring the _Paradise_ much more, but she couldn't help but turn back to Hell every so often. It was a dense book, one she knew would take years and years to understand, years that Isadora would have to herself (and yes, she was going to keep running names through her brain until she found the right one). But she was still stuck on the guard's words:

_"Your dear saint would think he would be in the first circle of the Inferno. Truthfully, he is in the fourth or maybe even the seventh circle."_

She had barely understood the first circle. Wikipedia told her it was called Limbo, or the place where non-Christians went to. It wasn't Paradise, but it wasn't fields of hellfire in which to burn eternally or something. It was literally nothingness. It was like the Fields of Asphodel in Greek mythology. _Edward _would_ classify himself as a non-Christian, and he _would_ probably send himself into this part of Hell_, Kristen thought wryly. Isolde was spot on (that wasn't right either).

Kristen thought she liked literature before, but now she was obsessed with this poem. She really wanted to know how she could adapt this to her own life. The Cullens had seen her reading it as well; Carlisle seemed startled, Esme interested, Rosalie impressed, Emmett disapproving, and Alice completely blasé. But Edward's reaction had been best, and possibly worst, of all.

_"I told you no, Kristen! You can't just trust the Volturi guards like that! They'll destroy your mind!"_

_"Books don't destroy your mind," Kristen had reminded him. "They build your mind. There is a reason why Dante is still so well-known for this book after centuries! There must be some secret in this book that makes people really want to read it, the way I want to! It's a good book, Edward!"_

_"Which guard was it that gave it to you?" Carlisle had asked._

_Kristen couldn't remember then, but she remembered what the girl looked like. "She looked maybe my age, a bit taller than me, redder hair, stony expression, didn't really seem as if she got along with too many people. She seemed happy around two of the guards, the two youngest looking ones."_

_Carlisle's face grew emotionless, except for a slight twinge of- was that _hatred_ on Carlisle Cullen's perfect, compassionate face? The golden-eyed vampire's face screwed up._

"Isabella," Kristen whispered, finally remembering the girl's name. How could she have forgotten, with that foreign emotion burning in Carlisle's eyes, the ones that looked at worst exasperated at her many injuries?

* * *

The Isabella in question was currently dodging questions from her siblings about the same book.

"You gave it to that human? Why?!"

Isabella rolled her eyes at Jane's startled expression as she stopped moving boxes around in the wooden shelf in their game room.

"Because she needed to know how stupid she's being for being around that Edward Cullen all the time," she snorted, stretching out on a couch. Jane rolled her eyes herself and started digging around again.

"Good call, sis, but I'm not sure if seeming helpful to her was a good idea," the shorter vampire said. "Ah, found it!" she took down a new-looking contraption made of wooden boards carefully constructed together. "This is the game that I found the other day."

"Mancala?" Isabella read off of the smooth white oak.

"Yeah, it's a game with these rock things that you put down in a specific pattern. Let's play, Isa! Come on!"

Isabella gave her a dirty look. "You just called me that to get me to play, you little snake."

Jane gave her an angelic smile in return. "Please?" she cooed.

Isabella sighed theatrically, got up from the couch, and took the board in her hands. They set it on the table, kneeled around it, and began to teach themselves the game.

* * *

Kristen finally felt that she understood the first three circles well enough to move on to the next one. The fourth circle, the one that Isabella accused Edward of being in.

The human stared at the image that accompanied the book with fear. Greed. She read how two warring factions fought with large weights on their chests, never resting, always trying to steal the others' weight. She read how the ones there had lost all individuality to material want.

Was that how Edward was? Did Edward Masen truly die of the Spanish influenza that day in Chicago, and Edward Cullen sprang up from his remains a greedy man, searching for more life? Did he think of her as a possession as well, a well of blood that was only his for the taking? The theory supported the fact that Edward sucked out the venom from her blood and then some, or how he tried to commit suicide after her death. As romantic as the gestures seemed at the time, in hindsight, they were rather suspicious.

Was this circle the reason why Edward didn't want her to read the _Divine Comedy_?

Kristen knew that she couldn't just stop here with the book; now that she figured out what the fourth circle of Hell was, she wanted to know the seventh circle. The other one that Isabella had thought was possible for her boyfriend. (Did he even see himself as her boyfriend?)

As Kristen read the section on the fourth circle again, she felt a jolt of curiosity and fear in her heart. What did Isabella classify herself as? And what did she classify _Kristen_ as?

For some reason, the human doubted that she would be placed in the first circle at all.

* * *

"Jamie has sent back more news. You are to go and see to it that these newborn armies are taken down. The sire is to first be questioned, and then you are to act on your own. Just ensure that no human knows."

Aro had gathered the elite guard in front of him to ask this of him. They were small enough to send practically all of them on this mission, apart from Chelsea, of course. If she went, the entire vampire population would run screaming to the hills, the idiots.

"Isabella, you are in charge for once. Jane, Alec, back her; Demetri, you're there to track, Felix, you're there for any necessary executions. I trust that you will carry out this mission well. Leave when you wish, return when you wish, stay in contact at all times."

"Yes, sir," the five said in somewhat unison; Alec purposefully said his part slightly slower. Caius just chuckled at his careful deviousness.

"You may go." The five bowed and walked out of the room.

Immediately, they began discussing what they wanted to do. Isabella wanted to wait another day, but the twins were adamant about leaving right away and meeting up with Jamie. Felix and Demetri knew to stay out of any debated among the siblings.

"Isabella, if we go right now, we can put a stop to this earlier!" Jane snapped.

"If we run in head first, we could be torn apart and set on fire, Jane," she retorted.

"Not if we incapacitate them first," Alec argued.

"They could have a shield."

"But Jamie never reported a shield!"

"Jane, that doesn't mean there isn't a possibility that they have one. He might not have gotten close enough or something."

"Isabella, I'm certain that Jamie would have found out about a shield."

"Jamie's not infallible, Alec!"

"Alright, settle down now," Felix rumbled. "Maybe the twins are right and we should go straight away. No sense in holding back fate."

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "That's definitely Reina's line," she said.

"Mine now."

"Fine, let's go then," Isabella sighed, shaking her head at her siblings' cheers. The twins ran down the hallway, laughing, pushing each other out of the way, trying to get to the door first.

"You just said that so Jane wouldn't poke you again, didn't you?" Isabella asked with a smirk.

Felix's eyes started darting back and forth. "What? No. Why would I be scared of a little monster like her?" he said, raising his hands in a universal "I SURRENDER" pose.

Demetri just laughed.

" 'Ey, shut up Demetri, at least she didn't stab you with her crazy mind powers when she was a hungry little newborn-OW!" He jumped slightly, rubbing his temple.

"I heard that!" Jane's singsong voice came echoing down from the hallway. "Hurry up, we need to go!"

Isabella sighed. "She never grows older, hm?"

Felix just grumbled and stomped past, much to their amusement.

* * *

"Glad you could make it so quickly, but why does Felix look so put out?"

"Don't ask," Demetri said, elbowing the broad guard, who pushed his arm away with a glower. "Maybe he didn't get enough last night. Anyhow, what's the situation like, Jamie?"

"Not much has changed. People disappear, sometimes bodies turn up, sometimes no. I think around 50 people have been reported missing or been killed so far, and 33 bodies have shown up from that approximately 50. I think I might have found the place of commands. Some redhead is there, calls herself Victoria, from the continent I think. She carries out orders through some other shrimp, a kid called Riley. He fancies himself her mate, she knows he isn't but uses it to her advantage. Sound familiar?"

"This is why we had to work so hard to make sure that Jasper didn't follow after us. Knowing them, they would know exactly who he was," Isabella said with a sigh and grimace. "Well then, let's go do some recon over where you say their safe house is."

Jamie nodded quickly before running off in a specific direction. The five others quickly caught on and followed him. Soon, Demetri noticed a specific wavelength that Jamie seemed to be following and quickly took over, barking out directions to focus their attention on the sire. Two scents began to mingle with the air as they neared their target.

The guard burst into a clearing that held a wooden cabin covered in garish pastel colors. Pinks, whites, mint greens all assaulted their eyes as they surrounded the house. They listened quietly to what was going on inside.

_**"Decisions, decisions,"**_ a girlish voice whispered. _**"Not yet. Maybe one more handful, just to be sure."**_

Jane and Alec exchanged a glance, Jane's infuriated, Alec's unreadable.

_**"Adding more might actually decrease our numbers**_," a tentative male voice said. _**"It's always unstable when a new group is introduced."**_

_**"True."**_ A quick pause.

"Move in," Isabella hissed. The four others nodded before they slowly converged on the house. Isabella knocked on the door, waited a second, and then gestured to Felix for him to break the door in.

A red-haired and blond vampire were sitting in the room. The red-haired female was lounging on a chair as the blond kneeled before her, head resting against her chest. They sprang apart, knocking the chair over, and assumed defensive positions.

"Enough," Isabella intoned. Alec quickly deadened their limbs and forced them into crouches on the ground.

"Victoria!" Isabella said, sounding surprised and happy. Her steely gaze and stony expression were all that gave away her true emotions. "We were wondering what happened after Hilda's demise. We all thought that you would have found your mate and led a happier life, one that involved avoiding trouble. But look at this."

She threw Jamie's newspaper in front of her (the lesser guard was still in the forest, keeping watch in case another approached). She tapped the article in the front, which glared at Victoria in large black letters: "**MURDER RATE INCREASES; WORK OF A SERIAL KILLER?"**

"You've been busy, haven't you, Vicky?" Isabella said softly, her eyes never leaving Victoria's. The red-headed vampire struggled to look up, fighting Alec's numbing.

"They killed him," she said in a low voice. As if realizing Riley was still in the room, she bit her lip and sighed. "My coven mate. I need to get one of theirs. It's the law. Eye for an eye."

"That's not a law, Victoria," Isabella hissed out. "Don't try telling _us_ that's a law. We _are_ the law, in case you forgot."

"Of course I didn't," Victoria said quietly. "I wouldn't be able to. But I'll destroy them all after this is done. I just need the girl _gone_. She's a threat to our society. She already got two vampires killed. One mate destroyed."

"She's done _WHAT?!"_ Jane growled out.

Victoria looked at Jane fearfully.

"Y-you didn't hear? Her little wolf pup pets ganged up on one of my old coven mates, who was just in the area, and ripped him to shreds. He wasn't even in their territory."

Isabella grimaced. "I _will_ have Carlisle's eye for this," she muttered. "He should have at least had the gall to inform us."

"To be fair, he wasn't in Forks at the time," Victoria relented. "But that girl has singlehandedly destroyed the second family I've ever been in. She will be killed, and by my hand. We made the newborns to distract the rest of the coven."

Demetri had chosen to sit on the top part of a sofa for the conversation, and he finally spoke up. "Isabella, maybe we should let them try it out," he called out, sounding reluctant.

She fixed an icy glare at him. "They broke the law."

"For moral reasons," Felix rumbled, sounding uncertain.

Isabella massaged her temple, as if she had a migraine. Alec looked at her sympathetically.

"Fine. One chance, Victoria. One week, one attempt to get rid of the Cullen's newest mortal pet," she finally said. "Blow it, we'll be back for your head." She glanced at Riley, who was silently staring at the ground. "Yours too, male," she sneered, making him wince.

Victoria nodded, looking scared. "You have my word. They will be destroyed."

Isabella let out a grunt before gesturing for the guards to leave. "We'll be in the neighborhood, so try and make your kills a bit more discreet from now on."

With that, the cloaked vampires left, not noticing the two newborns who overheard everything and were looking at each other, wide-eyed and frightened.

* * *

**So I did change the dialogue between the guards and Victoria/Riley. Mostly because I needed the sympathy to sound like it went to Victoria slightly. Also because I wanted Isabella to be talking and not robot-Jane that is emotionless.  
**

**Thanks for reading! ~Shriayle**


	46. Syzygy: Annular

**IN UNRELATED NEWS, DRIVING IS THE MOST STRESSFUL THING IN THE WORLD AND THIS AUTHOR DOES NOT RECOMMEND GEEZUS.**

**Also, the Midnight arc has been renamed Syzygy. From what I understand, a syzygy occurs when three things line up with each other in the sky. Like the sun, Earth, and moon in eclipses. Yeah. There is some symbolic reason behind this title, but I won't say what it is~  
**

**...so. I had fun with this one :P Again, anything confusing? Just ask in a review.**

**REPLIES:**

**pandorazul: Kristen's life is almost exactly the same as Bella's canon life.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner.: It's pretty much what Victoria got in the novella (SSLoBT), only there she got five days, not a week xD And more has comeeeee**

**I am in Loki's Army: Riley just has no idea who the guards are and is therefore petrified of their presence. And I'm not sure if I understand what you mean about 'defining male characters'. I try to give the female characters more power than they did in the original series, if that's what you're talking about :T**

**Maiannaise: GO ISABELLA AND KRISTEN, GO.**

**YunaNeko: THANK YOU AGAIN**

**BadAssTwilightGirls: At this point, it's just Meyer's plotline. From the Volturi perspective. The beginning part (Jamie's espionage) was from the beginning of Eclipse. He's been there back and forth for a couple of months before Aro decided to send in the guards. Then, they went, talked to Victoria, and stayed for a week to see how she handles the situation.**

**Guest: 'Eyyyyyy**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Which fight? _The_ fight? :P**

**Arabella Whitlock: It's not really something I addressed earlier; Carlisle blames the siblings equally for his treatment and Edward's and Rosalie's treatment when encountering Jane. So he naturally just hates Isabella for not keeping a tighter rein on her sister (which she anyways wouldn't because ew animal-drinkers)**

**VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: A manga/anime lover, it seems. And yes, YAY.**

**Lorindol Tinuviel: I can't really discuss French politics that well anymore, seeing as I made the executive decision not to take lessons in French from an Italian woman at my school. The actual French teacher I was supposed to have, who immigrated from France, decided to take at least a year off. So, whatever Hollande is doing as of now, it's being muffled by everything going on in Ferguson. Yay racial injustice -_- And depending on how busy I want to make Aro, I might slide in some more government leader references, who knows..? Isabella doesn't really have an attachment to people she tries to help. Her point of view is 'here. This is the answer you want. Your call, now.' And is your prediction correct?! You shall see heheh. Also yay no confusion and no mistakes.**

**natcityjp: Yep, they are indeed. That novella reference though. **

* * *

Isabella, Jane, Alec, Demetri, and Felix were each sitting in a tree around the clearing that Victoria's assistant, a newborn called Riley, nervously informed them of. The grass was clean and green, some strands standing up straight until they were smashed to the ground by the blind strength of a newborn. They watched the newborns run, roaring with pride, into battle against the animal-drinkers. They didn't expect much of the newborn army; they weren't well-trained at all, just forced to run into battle. They must have been barely briefed of their objective before being set on the resident coven.

"Hey, look over there," Jane hissed out, pointing at the edge of the clearing. There was a newborn trembling in the bushes. She had been turned at fifteen or sixteen, and was obviously trained to track the human's scent as she was darting between running off where the Volturi guard could detect the tantalizing scent and staying to fight with her comrades.

"Hmm. Interesting," Isabella murmured. "Keep an eye out on her, everyone."

They watched the vampires fight. Edward was nowhere to be seen, but his adoptive family fought long and hard. They watched the one called Emmett get his arm torn off, defeat the newborn holding it, reattach the limb with a grimace, and continue on. They watched Rosalie dart in to slash out some newborn's eye before darting out of reach. They watched Alice battle as if she were dancing, taking miniscule steps that took her just out of reach before lashing out to tear the attacker apart. They watched Carlisle and Esme fight in tandem, attacking one newborn while defending themselves from another.

They saw the wolves that Victoria had told them about. Large canines with glistening teeth that howled at every victory and whined at every injury that the newborns inflicted, no matter how small. They were of every color possible for their kind, from a dark silver to the color of the nighttime sky, even one that was as brown as dirt. Isabella thought that they were about as well-trained as the newborns themselves were.

"Bet John's bigger than all of them," Demetri sneered. It was true; these wolves were dwarfed by the lither yet sturdier form that John always took on when he became lupine.

"Yeah, and sparklier," Jane added with a tiny giggle, thinking about the way that John's fine fur glistened in the light. They all laughed with her as they watched the battle go on, watching it as though it were some sort of demented play. They watched the newborn army get decimated and thrown onto a roaring fire that emitted disgusting lilac smoke.

"Look, Eddie and his little lamb have come back from wherever they were. Looks like there's a wolf with them, as well," Alec said, sounding distracted. Indeed, a lanky sandy brown wolf was loping after the human and the vampire.

"They found the other newborn," Felix said, staring at the poor girl intensely.

She was skittering around on the ground, a look of utter terror written on her face as the golden-eyed coven approached her. It was the blonde, Rosalie, that first approached her and the blonde's mate, Emmett, that restrained her when the newborn lashed out towards the human girl. They heard her beg them, saw her look at Kristen with a hungry gleam in her eye before hitting herself on the head and wailing, gripping the ground in obvious agony. They heard the vampires and human speak to each other clearly, but they didn't listen too carefully. It didn't matter what they said, after all. They could be speaking in gobbledygook for all it mattered to the Volturi guards.

"Well, looks like show's over, guys, let's go do our jobs," Isabella said with a sigh, stretching her limbs out. They slid out of the trees and landed softly on the ground beneath the branches. The Cullens didn't notice, fully engrossed with the newborn in front of them. The wolves were too engrossed in the scene before them before the black wolf that Isabella had seen flicked an ear, barked out a command, and the entire pack scattered. The newborn was surrounded by six golden-eyed vampires and one human girl, all of whom moved back in fright when Isabella led the guards into the clearing. They left the red-eyed vampire all alone in the clearing in their own fear.

They walked in the triangular formation that Aro had always insisted they walk in. Jane was at Isabella's left, Alec at her right, Demetri next to Jane and Felix next to Alec. Isabella spearheaded the group as she casually sauntered up to the group of animal-drinkers, whose scattered line now looked out of sync in comparison to the guards' synchronized steps and cool attitudes. She allowed her eyes to flick over the clearing, looking at the still smoking remains of the newborn vampires burning to ash and the golden-eyed coven with an apparently interested glance.

"Hmm..." Isabella allowed herself to say. She watched the newborn begin to tremble in fear, staring at them with wide red eyes, forgetting about the human in the vicinity. She made no move towards her, and she made sure that the four others with her didn't even glance at the newborn.

"Isabella," Edward growled out. A smirk flickered over her face before she slid back into the emotionless mask. She had heard the slight apprehension in his voice. Maybe he realized that he couldn't read their thoughts whatsoever whenever she was around. This would be fun to play with. She watched the human look at her curiously. Maybe she had actually read the book. Hopefully, she would come to her senses and force one of the vampires to change her as soon as possible.

"Carlisle. You seem well," Isabella said smoothly, ignoring both Edward's panicked glance and infuriated eyes, angry that she ignored him, flustered that he dared say something to her. Immature and conflicted as always, it seemed.

"Why are you here?" Alice asked, sounding mildly frantic. Of course, she wasn't able to read their futures or decisions with Isabella around. Or in general; they didn't make the decisions, after all.

"We came to see what the newspapers were going on about, of course," Isabella said, adding a note of false surprise to her voice. She watched the coven in front of her stiffen at the implied criticism of their ability to inform the Volturi. "The deaths, the disappearances... You know, Carlisle, I would have thought you would have defended your territory from foreign invaders a bit better, especially with such a large coven." Now, she really was jabbing them with her words. Jane trembled from suppressed laughter.

"They weren't in our territory," he responded, taking offense to her statement.

"Until they threatened your little pet, yes?" Isabella finished for him, allowing the smirk to show on her face fully. Alec chuckled quietly from next to her.

"Kristen is _not_ a pet, she is mine," Edward snarled out. A look of uncertainty formed on the human's hazel eyes. So, maybe she had read the book after all and gotten to the fourth circle. _Good girl._

"So be it," Isabella said. She allowed herself to look over to the newborn, who looked as though she was trying to melt into the background or maybe flee into the lands the way that Victoria was so good at. "And what is this, Carlisle?"

"We are giving her a chance. To perfect her self-control, to integrate her. She has surrendered."

"Surrendered?" Isabella pronounced the word carefully. "Though the eighteen others didn't get that same chance? Carlisle, you are growing dull in your animal consumption, aren't you?"

"Carlisle let her surrender, and so she has," Esme said, speaking for the first time.

_**"Ah, but that wasn't his to offer,"**_ Isabella said serenely. The four other guards were prepared to follow through with whatever their leader commanded, and they slipped into defensive positions as subtly as possible. The animal-drinkers didn't notice the change in posture, as they were too focused on Isabella's words.

_**"That's in your hands. As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught." **_Carlisle replied.

"Again, not something you should be able to judge for yourself, Carlisle," Isabella snapped, her control finally slipping and her temper flaring. "Need I remind you of our skill?"

The newborn was still trembling, her eyes darting back and forth between the human girl in the other group and the Volturi guards.

"How many came to fight, Carlisle?"

_**"Eighteen, including this one,**_ as you said before."

"Hmm." There were twenty-two, according to Victoria. One was obviously Victoria herself, and the other two must have either been destroyed or escaped. "I see._** Then, who was their creator?"**_

_**"She was called Victoria,"**_ Edward responded for Carlisle.

"Was? She was destroyed, then?" Isabella asked.

Edward gestured vaguely towards a far-off plume of lilac smoke. "She came after Kristen and me."

Isabella nodded to herself. "Well then, our job is almost done."

"Almost?" Carlisle asked tersely.

Isabella turned fully to the newborn trembling on the ground_**. "Your name,"**_ she said.

The newborn looked petrified, incapable of speaking or doing much more then scrabbling around on the ground.

"Shall I, sister?" Jane hissed out, looking reluctant.

Isabella held out a hand to stop her. "No, sister, we will wait for her," Isabella replied.

The frightened newborn finally managed to force her voice to work. "B-Bree. Bree Tanner." Her voice sounded scratchy and unused, as though something was forcing her not to use it. Seeing as there was a human in the vicinity, it was probably her thirst she was trying to control.

"Brother, if you would," Isabella said lazily. Her brother nodded and sent a small plume of his analgesic to deaden her throat. As soon as the nearly transparent white fog wrapped itself around her throat, she stopped trembling abruptly. She stroked her throat in wonder, embracing the feeling of no thirst.

"How did you..?" Bree's voice, now so much more musical and clear, trailed off. Carlisle looked completely flabbergasted at her sudden control over her thirst, and Edward looked infuriated again. Kristen was enthralled, Esme worried, Rosalie and Emmett almost... jealous?

"Questions later. Story, please," Isabella said, allowing some warmth into her voice. She knew that this newborn had no control over her life, or her thirst. It was a given in newborn armies. Their needs weren't addressed.

"We were set on the yellow-eyes here. We were told to fight and that whoever won could claim h-her," she stuttered as she pointed at Kristen with a shaking finger. Edward snarled at the newborn. She was immediately scared into silence again. They waited for a couple seconds; Bree seemed unwilling to speak again.

"It seems as though we can't get everything right now," Isabella sighed out. She flicked a hand in Bree's direction, and the four others with her immediately surrounded the newborn, who seemed surprised but not scared of the guards.

"What will you do with her?" Carlisle asked sharply.

"We will take her back to Volterra with us and ask her if she would allow Aro to see her memories," Isabella said serenely, staring into Carlisle's startled golden eyes. "If she chooses to return, she will be allowed to come back here or to wherever she wishes. As is our law. You have stayed with us, Carlisle, you should know this as well as anyone."

Alec looked over to Isabella and nodded subtly. Felix had picked Bree up and flicked his cloak over her to shield her form curious and she clung to his arm for dear life as the four others ran out of the clearing. Esme looked vaguely worried for Bree's sake.

"We won't hurt her, Carlisle. That is for your coven to do as well. Give the wolves our regards," Isabella allowed herself to laugh maniacally once at their fearful, thunderstruck expressions before running after the other guards.

* * *

The guards returned to the hotel in Seattle that Jamie was staying in. To say he was shocked when six vampires came back rather than five was an understatement.

"You brought back a newborn with you?!" he practically shrieked when they stormed in and Felix gently placed Bree down on a bed. She blinked at Jamie and flinched away from his voice.

Isabella gave him a dirty glare. "You know that all witnesses are to be taken to Aro. The animal-drinkers decided to go apeshit and kill every single newborn as well as their sire, disobeying the rules to notify the Volturi and get the hell out. Probably either lost their heads after that human of theirs was threatened or decided to show off to the poor mortal about how strong they were, especially with their little wolfy pets of theirs. We're lucky that she," Isabella nodded towards Bree, throwing herself down on a chair, "survived."

" 'Wolfy pets'? They had Children of the Moon with them? Caius'll shit bricks," Jamie said with a chuckle.

"More like shifters; y'know, like John," Alec piped up from the chair he was reclining in. Bree's head whipped over to stare at him; she hadn't heard him speak at all, apart from the slightly sinister chuckle he gave at the meeting with the Cullens. He had a more mellow voice than she initially thought he did; maybe it was because they weren't in a professional situation anymore. "They didn't have the same lack of control as Lunar Children. Also, Jamie, it's still daylight, and the moon's a quarter moon."

"Caius'll still freak out, you know that," Jane said, dangling upside down from a bed. Demetri was sitting next to the bed, his head next to hers as he rolled his eyes. "Love, he freaks out over everything," Demetri reminded her.

_Love? Were they in love with each other? Like, going out in love?_ Bree's questions were quickly answered when Jane leaned over and pecked his lips, saying, "Shut up, I'm still right," as she did so.

"We're being rather rude, you five," Isabella chastised. Her siblings turned to her with identical curious looks, but the three others seemed to know what she was talking about.

"We are, indeed," Felix said from where he was leaning against the wall. He held out one of his large hands towards Bree. "Felix. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss."

"Bree. Er, I mean, Brianna. But everyone calls me Bree," the newborn stuttered out, getting up from the bed and standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. She hated being the center of attention.

"I'm Jane. This idiot is Demetri," Jane said, playfully reaching down and poking Demetri in the stomach. He gave her a half-hearted glare; she knew that he couldn't be too angry with her for that long.

"Alec," her twin said, raising his hand as he turned to Bree, an arm laid across the back of his chair. "Pleased to meet you, Bree."

"Jamie right here, but you probably don't even know me," the spy said with a chuckle. "I tipped off these lovelies about your little, ah, group in the city. That's the only reason why I'm here."

"Yes, because no one wants you here, Jamie," Isabella said dryly. "I'm Isabella, Bree. I'm leading these dingbats for now. You'll meet our real leaders tomorrow."

"Um, pardon my asking," Bree said quietly, "but why are we here? We don't have to sleep or anything, and it's barely sundown."

"Good question, girl," Demetri said with a smirk. "We're waiting on nightfall. We head back to our home then."

"How? By plane?"

"She has not been initiated to the wonders of our travel, has she?" Demetri asked no one in particular. Everyone else rolled their eyes.

"Pardon Demetri, I might not have knocked all the cobwebs out of his brain yet," Jane grumbled, smacking her mate upside the head.

Demetri rubbed the spot she hit and responded by jabbing Jane's temple with a finger and sticking his tongue out at her.

"What Demetri means is that you'll see," Felix said vaguely, watching the two interact with an air of amusement and wistfulness. He missed Heidi every day that Aro sent him out on these damn missions.

Isabella rolled her eyes at the guards' behavior. "You'll see, Bree," she said, echoing Felix.

And see she did. She didn't understand how the physics of the situation would work, but she was _running_ across the fucking _Pacific Ocean_ with nothing but the blinking stars and snow white moon above her and the surf underneath her sprinting feet. Isabella was leading the way again, but Bree's newborn strength meant that she could match the guard step for step, with Jamie, Demetri, Felix, Jane, and Alec in hot pursuit.

Bree let out a crow of victory, spreading her arms out wide and leaping in the air to spin around and giggle in glee.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" she screamed, her call of joy disappearing into the expanse of the water and the sky.

Isabella smiled to Bree, much more genuinely than she had to the Cullens even once. "Calm down, we don't want to have to feed the second we make landfall," she admonished gently, not trying to hold the newborn back at all. She wasn't given the chance to embrace such beautiful moments, after all. Might as well let her enjoy them when she could.

Bree smiled lightly, not taking Isabella's words too close to heart, and kept dancing and shouting, lost in her ecstasy to be allowed to actually roam freely, not restrained by some mysterious presence. The guards watched the newborn flit around with smiles on all their faces.

As they ran, their cloaks' shadows and the spray from their retreating footsteps were the only things that they left behind.

* * *

Didyme was waiting for them when they returned to the Castle. She ran out to quickly talk to Isabella about something when she saw Bree standing timidly beside her husband's guard.

Immediately, a protective feeling washed over her. Seeing Bree's frightened eyes (frightened because she wasn't used to kind vampires, having been a part of the army) awakened some primal instinct to defend her from everything. It was a heady feeling, leaving Didyme swaying on the spot.

"Queen Didyme?" Isabella asked, wondering why she was just standing in the doorway and staring at them. "Did Gianna decide to leave her post again?"

"N-no, Isabella, naught of the sort," Didyme mumbled in Italian, drifting forward. "And who is this?"

Jane and Alec gave each other a curious glance, asking each other why she seemed so interested and not having an answer.

"This is Bree. She's the only surviving newborn from the army we went to put down."

Didyme gasped slightly, and the recently reawakened instinct within her roared in anger. "Why was she in there? She could have died!"

Isabella was now more confused than her siblings. "Um. Yes. The Cullens wanted to grant her amnesty for not fighting them, but we decided to bring her back after she was scared into not saying anything about the army."

"Poor thing," Didyme fussed, running up to Bree and staring straight into her eyes, gripping her hand. Bree fidgeted, trying to look everywhere except for Didyme, not understanding a single word of what they were saying. She was just an American that knew English; she didn't know any foreign languages that could help her at all.

"You're scaring her, ma'am," Jamie said, tapping Didyme on the shoulder. "Perhaps later? We need to report to Aro, and he's going to want to read Bree's memories, though whether she will allow him to is a different question altogether. We will give her the option, as we usually do."

Didyme nodded, slightly mollified. She backed away, letting go of a relieved Bree's hand, and walked into the Castle as regally as she could manage. She turned in the doorway.

"I want to see her as soon as possible, you five," she said before walking in.

The five guards glanced at each other.

"Methinks that our dear queen Didyme may have a parental bond to our lovely Bree here," Demetri said, breaking the silence.

"Well, we'll have to see what Marcus thinks of her. It might just be a protective instinct," Felix said with a shrug. Bree didn't know what they were talking about, but they hadn't led her wrong yet, so she just decided to follow them into the marble castle. Gianna glanced up and said, "Welcome back, guys! Oh, is there a newbie with you?"

Isabella just smiled. "I'm hoping that the kings are expecting us," she said, choosing not to reply to Gianna's question.

"Yep, they're in there. Go right ahead," the receptionist said, shaking her head and laughing to herself.

Isabella nodded to her before leading the rest in. Bree wanted to disappear to the back of the group as she usually did, but Isabella was holding onto her sleeve to make sure that she didn't get lost as they wove effortlessly through the hallways and staircases to the throne room.

Isabella knocked once. Renata answered the door, looked at all of them, and disappeared back into the room while beckoning for them to come in. Isabella gently pushed Bree in first before letting the other guards file in after her.

The kings were seated on their thrones as usual, but they didn't sit as imposingly as they did for trials. Rather, they were relaxed in their seats, knowing that the sire for the army had been destroyed and the Cullens warned. They watched the guards walk up to them with a bit of confusion glimmering in their eyes.

"Isabella? Who is this?" Aro asked, looking at Bree.

"This is Brianna, also called Bree. She is the sole survivor of the army. The Cullens destroyed the others. She was frightened into silence in Washington when she implied that the army's target was the human Kristen. We brought her in hopes that she would let you read her memories."

Aro hummed in approval. He stood up and walked over to Bree. She seemed to shrink into Isabella with every step that he took.

"Brianna, my name is Aro. I'm one of the three kings here. I have the gift of reading one's complete and full mind, but only if they allow me to touch their hand. Would you give me the honor?" he said, bowing slightly and holding his hand out. It was cupped open, his palm towards the ceiling, fingers facing her.

Bree looked at the hand and glanced at the guards, who didn't encourage her to do anything. It was her choice. This was the first time since she had been turned that she was given her own free will, and it was almost overwhelming to her. She closed her eyes, hoping she didn't regret her decision.

She took a deep breath and reached out her hand to clasp Aro's. The king gently squeezed her fingers before letting go again. "Thank you, Brianna," he whispered to her.

"Bree," she said before she could stop herself. "I- people call me Bree," she said much more quietly.

"Well then, Bree, what do you want to do now? You are innocent of any crimes, as you did not know our laws because your sire did not teach them to you. We can charge you with ignorance this once, and you may restart your life now. Where will you go?"

"I-I don't know. I have a friend who ran up to Canada, but..."

"You don't know where he is?" Caius asked, his eyes narrowing. "We would have once asked George, but since his demise, no one's dared go into Canada. Too many Lunar Children, last I heard."

"Do we need to take care of them?" Isabella asked sharply.

"Not that I know of. They aren't related to the Europeans we had to kill off."

Isabella nodded and faded back into the background again.

Bree trembled. "Then I have no one, sirs."

"You can stay here as long as necessary," Marcus said, staring at Bree in a new light. Isabella smirked; after Didyme left, she was hoping that Marcus would feel the same connection to the newborn that Caius once had for Maisie. It seemed to come true now.

Bree looked at Marcus this time. She actually looked at his face, and she felt a slight pull within her to please him, to make him proud.

"I will do that," she said quietly, still staring.

Aro smiled at her amicably. "Well, it's nice that that's all sorted out. We'll have to being Maisie in to see about getting her a white cloak-"

"If I may, Master Aro," Felix cut in. "Bree enjoyed the freedom of running across the ocean with no cares. I believe that she would prefer to be able to run out whenever she pleases." Bree nodded to affirm his words.

"Fine. We'll see about something else, then. Until that time, Renata, if you'll find her a room. Alec, please make sure to keep the newborn thirst in check until she grows out of it. And that should be all for now. You are free to go."

The guards bowed to the kings before leaving the throne room.

Caius smirked towards Marcus, who tried very hard to ignore it.

"You will see how I feel, now," Caius said with a chuckle.

Marcus sighed, giving Caius an exasperated glance. "I know, Caius, I know. I'm just thinking that Didyme will be a bit overexcited about this development."

"She was. When she went out to meet Isabella for whatever reason."

Marcus gave Aro a confused glance.

"Bree's memories."

Marcus groaned and rubbed his temple, much to Caius's delight. "Good grief, now I have to deal with an excited Didyme?"

Aro chuckled, knowing how crazy his sister could get.

* * *

**Excited Didyme is overexcited. **

**As my break is ending soon, I might not update quite as often, but I plan to update as often as possible still.**

**Seeya~**

**-Shriayle**


	47. Syzygy: Past Midnight

**There are officially less than ten chapters left until this story closes. This is rather depressing. I plan to go back through and reedit the chapters, maybe get rid of some ANs after this is all done. THEN THE NEXT STORY WILL BE RELEASED xD**

**Fun fact: half of this was written on an hour-long car ride that I had to take to get from a class back home. In our high school, we're offered the chance to work with professionals in the biology field, and of course the hospital that I chose happens to be about forty minutes to an hour and a half away depending on traffic (yay LA traffic). And I had my laptop. So I took it out and wrote for a solid hour. Yep. Therefore: I no proofread. Please review and inform me of mistakes.**

**Um. Did you guys really think that Isabella would allow Bree to die? I guess I see where it comes from, but hopefully we've established that Isabella's a rule-breaker whenever and wherever she feels like it.**

**In other news, I read from one of those shady 'ten things you didn't know' website article things that Dakota Fanning is planning to stay celibate until 18 because she promised her mother and all I can imagine is Isabella giving Jane 'the talk' after Jane meets Demetri and Jane just going 'I'M 200 YEARS OLD GEEZ ISA.' Things from my mind are odd and wonderful. Added extra: my friend sent me a tumblr post of Kristen Stewart being really adorable and now I have to make Isabella more happy-go-lucky. In that vein of thought, my mind's eye sees Isabella, Jane, and Alec as the Twilight actors' portrayals, but with different heights. These heights will be disclosed later.  
**

**ALSO: I've been doing some new art for this story because why not. It's in my rather signature 'papercut' style. Should I change/update the title page? It's going to look quite different from what it currently is.  
**

**REPLIES:**

**I am in Loki's Army: You're as psychic as Alice (Guest) is o_O Stephenie Meyer's emphasis on the Cullens bothered me. Couldn't they have at least tried to keep in contact with some of the other vampires she brought out randomly in ****_Breaking Dawn_****? I know that might seem hypocritical coming from me, but at least the guards and kings already kinda know the other covens because they're the government and they have to keep track of the population xD Also YAY GIRL CHARACTERS**

**Maiannaise: I always loved Bree. Also, my friend's nickname is Bree. It would feel awkward killing her off xD I also have maaany plans for our little newborn.**

**YunaNeko: :)**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: She's a little angel. Maybe.**

**lordmantis (Guest): Thanks, I try :P If you love this story that much, I'm going to expect you to stick around for the next one, which is already much more planned out than this one ever was.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: Yep. Bree throws a wrench into things, like Jasper leaving the Cullens. Though he was surprisingly easy to write out.**

**Arabella Whitlock: Isabella's not _that_ evil xD Nor would she allow her sister to torture a random person. COUGH STEPHENIE MEYER COUGH.**

**MoonPrincess623: I'm going to explain the entire mate thing later, but Jasper's mate bond thing would most likely slowly evolve into a sexual one. Though I'm not planning on spending too much time on that.**

**Guest: :)**

**pandorazul: I keep track of the chapters on my profile, but right now, I've planned out 56 for the actual story. Afterwards, there are 14 extras that will be released, so this story should end up with 70 chapters at the end.**

**XxHeavenlyBlueSkyxX: Random fact is random. And interesting. I approve. Also, I hope that you're willing to talk to me in the future D: I don't biteeeee and thank you for that lovely compliment :) I always loved the Volturi as an entity far more than the Cullens.**

* * *

Bree didn't fit into Volterra as well as the other guards had. The majority of her newborn years had been in the army, untrained and untaught, and because of that, she found herself jumping at every barely audible noise, reacting by lashing out violently or at least crouching into a sloppy battle stance. The others tried to train it out of her, tried to convince her that it was okay for her to just relax while she was in the Castle, that no one was there to hurt her. The only one that understood her reaction was Jasper, who had trained newborns to act in such a manner. When Maisie mentioned it to him, Jasper became determined to help this newborn, the one who was raised by fear and submission, like so many others that he had seen before.

Jasper tailed Bree whenever possible, watching her walk around with the whitish-grey cloak she wore designating her as important to the kings but still a lesser guard. He would purposefully make noises behind her, from loud to soft, and watch her overall extremely jumpy reaction to measure how she was trained. He didn't like what he saw: she was skittish, hyperventilating when each noise seemed to resemble another vampire trying to sneak up on her. She had been raised for fear to be ingrained within her. She feared everything and everyone, no matter how much she knew that she was safe. He approached her (from the front, so that she could see him coming towards her and had a body to associate the noises to) and asked her point-blank if she wanted him to help her get accustomed to life in the Castle, with vampires around probably every corner and more walking through the doors for trials, not to mention the world leaders that the kings met with every week. She had frozen upon seeing his many scars from other newborns and hadn't spoken for a solid minute before realizing that he had asked her a question, one that he expected an answer for. For his part, Jasper waited impatiently, having anticipated her reaction upon seeing him. She timidly agreed, and they began to work together slowly. Slowly, as in, there were no visible changes even after a couple of months.

Marcus and Didyme were worried for their new daughter. She didn't really accept them as her parents as of yet, having had too rough a childhood to even think of having parents that didn't abandon her and throw her out. Maisie had needed parental figures to guide her after Liam and Siobhan's unfortunate demise. Bree didn't have those stable figures to begin with, so she had no idea what she was really missing out on. Isabella thought it a shame; she had grown up like that, without a parent to rely on, and now she wished beyond anything else that she could have had a mother and father in her life. Bree didn't see what Marcus and Didyme were offering. Isabella thought in the back of her mind that she would offer the same to another lost soul. She didn't know when or how that soul would come to her, but she just had the innate desire to protect those who couldn't defend themselves from their circumstances.

It was this conviction that drove Isabella to try and convince Bree to let her newly bonded parents through her walls, walls that Bree herself had no idea how to begin to take down. Jasper tried to help her with her subconscious protections as well as her high-strung reflexes, but there was no way for her to even comprehend changing. She had lived too long with those barriers, even from her human life, to take them down. Isabella couldn't even help her; it wasn't a true mental shield, but a subconsciously created wall. Only Bree could take it down.

It was with this heavy information that the parents and the mentors alike admitted defeat in trying to take the barrier down. They decided to give that option to Bree herself; she was the one who had built the wall up with mortar of blood and sweat and bricks of despair and self-mutilation. She didn't think she was good enough to be a guard. She didn't think she was good enough for anything.

But Isabella had seen the carefree girl that she was, that day on the ocean. She had seen Bree let go of everything that she built up in the hopes of protecting herself. Isabella was ready to see the young vampire blossom once she let her inhibitions go.

She hadn't yet allowed herself to die and be reborn.

* * *

_Mr. Carlisle Cullen and Ms. Esme Platt Cullen request your presence to celebrate the union of their son, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, to his beloved fiancée, Kristen Marie Swan, daughter of Renee Swan Dwyer and Charlie Swan. The wedding is to be held on Saturday, the first of November, two thousand and eight, at six o'clock in the evening._

Underneath, scrawled in a deft yet messy hand:

_Aro, I do not know if you plan to come to this glorious occasion that my family plans to celebrate. I do not know if I am even on good terms with you anymore. But please, take this as an opportunity to see that Kristen will become a part of our family, for better or for worse, as an immortal, the way you have entreated us to turn her into. She wishes this life upon herself. I will not force her to give up what she wants. Please, I beseech you, my old friend, let us know prior to coming. I do not wish an early death via heart attack on my new daughter-in-law._

_Sincerely, Carlisle Cullen, leader of the Olympic coven_

Aro snorted to himself, holding the thick letter. It was obviously meant to be a slap to the Volturi's face, saying that they ruled how the human was to live her life. How unfortunate that Aro knew exactly how to counter this slip of paper. At the words 'my old friend,' he crumpled the paper with one hand and threw it to the side. He snatched up another slip of paper, far better quality than the invitation itself, picked up a pen, and wrote with an elegant, almost ostentatious style his own message. Perusing the note, he put his pen down and looked around for the nearest guard. It happened to be the speed demon herself.

"Lilianna, fetch Renata for me, if you would."

The girl nodded before literally blurring away and reappearing, dragging the dark-haired guard behind her. Renata gave a slightly disgruntled noise as she yanked her arm out of Lilianna's grasp.

"Sir?" the older guard said, bowing her head slightly.

"The Cullens intend to make a mockery of us by hosting a wedding to bind the human to their single son. I believe there is only one way to respond." He handed Renata a little slip of paper. "Get the jewelry box out of my office, the one that Sulpicia dislikes most for its garishness, and put that inside, next to the gem. Then, take this to Forks and leave it outside of their doorstep. Do not be seen. Do you understand?"

Renata took the slip of paper and opened it briefly, curious as to what it said. _It is with my greatest regret that I must correct you, Carlisle; you ceased to be my friend after you tried to oppose my dear guards, who are almost like my family, as your coven is to you. For this reason, I or any of my brothers cannot attend this occasion. Perhaps this gem will look better on your newest addition than my own queen thought it looked on her. I look forward to meeting the new Ms. Kristen soon._

It wasn't signed, but the elegant script and carefully worded message made it obvious who sent it.

"I will ensure that this gets to its right place, sir," Renata said with a slight bow. She had come a long way since Aro had trained her to use her shield, even though she hated the lessons. She now served Aro because she recognized the kings as the linchpins of vampiric society. Without them, their world would crumble.

Aro patted her head slightly. She slapped his hand away with a slight glare.

"Ah, Renata, you treat me so well," Aro said with a hint of sarcasm polluting his whistling tone.

Renata bowed once more, deeper, before leaving the room and making her way towards America.

* * *

Carlisle was thunderstruck when the doorbell rang at exactly noon on October sixteenth and he was met with a small, heavily jeweled box on the front step with no one to claim themselves as its giver. When he flipped the box open, his eyes grew wide.

Within the box was the largest diamond he'd ever seen, surrounded by colorful jewels that wove themselves into a complicated design that looked almost like a bird, almost like a flower. Gold and silver swirled around the jewels, creating intricate thin swirls almost impossible to follow, even with a vampire's superior eyesight. A rather heavy golden chain wove itself around the jewels and into a long rope for the bauble to hang around someone's neck. He was almost afraid to even touch it; he did not want to destroy such a priceless treasure with a careless flicker of strength.

He barely noticed the note the first time. When he finally noticed it, he took the paper out, setting the jewel aside as carefully as possible while he took the note out to read it.

_It is with my greatest regret that I must correct you, Carlisle; you ceased to be my friend after you tried to oppose my dear guards, who are almost like my family, as your coven is to you. For this reason, I or any of my brothers cannot attend this occasion. Perhaps this gem will look better on your newest addition than my own queen thought it looked on her. I look forward to meeting the new Ms. Kristen soon._

Carlisle didn't know how to take the message, except that the kings would not attend the wedding and wouldn't send any guards as well. Which was fine by his standards. He didn't want any of the red-eyed vampires ruining his perfect family's gathering.

Was it even perfect anymore? The coven had started to slip downhill after Jasper left. It became clear that Jasper's empath skills were the real cement of the group, holding them all together. Without him, Rosalie and Emmett had begun to drift away, Edward became more cross, Alice more sullen, and Esme more strict and tight-fisted. Carlisle felt his own temper begin to slip out of his control; many times, when someone came into the hospital bleeding uncontrollably or hemorrhaging, he had to feign dizziness at the smell because it became so enticing, the only lovely thing he had at the moment, the only thing he craved. It was Jasper who softened the bloodlust in them all, and Carlisle regretted letting him go now. He was unable to fulfill his Hippocratic Oath, after all, if he couldn't stand the smell of pure human blood. Innocent humans' blood. _Innocent blood_.

He would give anything for his family to return to the way it was for the ten years that Jasper had lived with them. The former major had been unhappy, yes, but his own happiness should have been a sacrifice for the happiness of the coven. The way that Carlisle had sacrificed his own humanity to kill the mostly already dying people to shape his coven out of.

* * *

Kristen thought herself the princess of any ball, with her wedding gown and heels, when she looked into the mirror. She had long since mastered the art of wearing such shoes, seeing as she diligently worked on her balance ever since seeing how the vampires moved. She did _not_ want to be the world's first clumsy vampire. That wouldn't be fun at all. She set down a canvas bag holding a ridiculously bejeweled box that Carlisle had given her, claiming that the Volturi had graciously given it to her as a wedding present. It was a beautiful work of art more than it was jewelry, and she had no clue what to do with such a precious gem. For now, it would live with her socks in her drawer of clothes.

The human sighed. She didn't really understand what this entire farce of a wedding was about anymore. She had just come back from rehearsal, and she still really hadn't come to terms with the fact that she was getting _married_. Originally, she thought it was a declaration of her own freedom from her overbearing mother and her underwhelming father. Yes, they loved her. No, they didn't protect her. She thought she could get that protection from the Cullen coven through marriage to their son. Now, she wasn't as sure.

Kristen yanked off her silver heels (sparkling the way Alice liked them) and threw them onto the bed, throwing herself down next to them with a groan. She closed her eyes before shoving the heels of her hands onto them as well.

This wedding was not going as planned. She extended her left arm and smacked her hand around her nightstand for a bit, searching for something. Hearing her hand thump around on the item she was looking for, she attempted to pick it up quickly and opened her eye (the left one; the other one was still being covered by her right hand). She sighed and forced herself to sit up on her bed.

In her hands was her copy of _The Divine Comedy. _The one from Italy.

She didn't know why she was so enthralled by this work. It was obviously well-written, both by the original author and by the translator. She understood why this classic had lasted for centuries, as thick and intense as it was.

She had finally reached it: the seventh circle. The circle of violence. Divided into three sections: those violent to other men, those violent to themselves, and those violent to God (of course it was a Christian allegory, everything was). Through reading the book, she had come to realize that she didn't truly love Edward. She loved what he symbolized: he was a martyr, one who was left with no family who became a veritable living angel. He still damned himself by staying with her, refusing to touch her blood until it was too late. She was in love with the idea of Edward, but not in love with Edward himself. If anything, she feared him; she feared his mood swings, his sudden angers, his gentleness, his sinister personality. He was the epitome of moodiness as well. He wasn't her ideal friend, even, much less her ideal husband. But she had stupidly said yes to his proposal, thinking that it would grant her happiness.

She realized that she no longer trusted the male vampire. If anything, she had grown closer to Alice as the year went on. After Volterra, Alice had been the one to reassure her that the Volturi would give them time, that they were reasonable. The future-seeing vampire had been the one to make her smile again after Edward became so much darker. Alice was her best friend, a snarky, snappy girl who dressed Kristen up in the fashionable clothes that she designed and sewed by hand. Kristen let her because it seemed to be the only time that Alice was really happy. The mortal was happy to give some joy to the otherwise sullen vampire.

It was the only reason why she was wearing such an extravagant dress to her wedding. A wedding that she no longer wanted to the man that she didn't really love.

Her life sucked.

* * *

The vows were said, the false "I do"s completed. They shared a quick kiss, more like a peck on the lips than the kisses they'd shared before, not the passionate one that anyone had expected, before turning and pasting on identical smiles that didn't reach their eyes. No one noticed their mutual reluctance. Edward was trying to think of everything but the thirst. Kristen was trying to think of everything but the wedding and the husband she now had.

"Kristen Cullen," the human tried out later, when sitting at a table to eat with her new family (_watching_, she added wryly in her mind). Alice was sitting next to her and giving her a funny look, one that conveyed reluctance and slight annoyance. It sounded cumbersome to her and Alice both; it wasn't quite right.

"Kristen Marie Swan Masen Cullen," Edward added with a slight smirk in her direction, thinking that she was just trying her name out. She grimaced to herself. If anything, it ruined her name even more. She had loved her maiden name, though she didn't love the man that gave it to her as much.

She thought, _Kristen Marie Swan_, to herself, thanking herself that Edward couldn't read her mind at all. She knew that he would take offense to this little thing, as he always did. She listened to the lilting syllables in her once-name, and mourned slightly that she couldn't claim it as her own again, at least with the vampires around. She had to keep the name that she supposedly adopted the heartbeat that she married. She knew that the second she was changed into an immortal (and she _would_ be changed, Edward be damned), she would most likely try and abandon it, embracing her old name while saying it was to celebrate her humanity.

Kristen was determined to continue on. If there was one thing she learned, it was that she had to be patient and wait for the perfect moment before making decisions. Her future was hers to control, if she only reached out a hand and wrote it for herself. Even if such sudden decision making didn't do anything at all, at least it put Alice on her toes.

That was always fun to do.

* * *

Alec stretched an arm out to slap a card down face up, cutting his sister's own arm off with a deft hand.

"Alec!" Jane whined, withdrawing her hand, one that was holding a three of hearts. They were playing a newer game (or, at least, newer to them) called Speed, which focused on lightning reflexes to put down cards in increasing order onto two separate piles. Naturally, the vampires loved to compete with this game and see who could put the card down first, knowing that they would be much faster than any human, yet still excited for the outcome.

Alec gave Jane a fleeting smirk, shooting his hand out again to put down a jack before picking up another three cards in quick succession. In that time, Jane had snarled at him, put down a queen, king, ace, and two all at once, and refilled her hand in order to quickly add a three on top of them.

"This game is intense," Felix commented, raising an eyebrow as he walked in. He had expected to have a card flung at his face again, the way that Jane always did whenever someone walked in and she had her usual deck of cards with her. It was a little trick she picked up from somewhere that she enjoyed 'perfecting' (though it was practically perfect anyways).

"Shut it, meathead," Jane growled without looking at him. Rather, she stared intently at the cards in her hand. "I need to focus. Damn it, Alec!" He had just laid down a seven of hearts as she was about to put down a seven of spades.

Felix just chuckled and sat down next to the table to watch them play. Jane shot him a "don't-even-mention-it" glare out of the corner of her eye as she threw down an eight of spades and refilled her hand.

"It's not my fault that you aren't as good as I am at this game," Alec said laughing, putting down a king in the other pile of cards. Jane glared at him before neatly slapping down five cards again, this time from nine of hearts to king of diamonds. "Watch your back, brother," she said with an angry glance.

Isabella had finally walked in to see her siblings jeering at each other as their hands moved in rapid succession from deck to pile, trying to outmatch the other twin. She chuckled quietly before sitting next to Felix.

"How long?" she asked quietly.

"Two minutes, thirty-six-point-seven seconds," he whispered back.

"Their record is closer to-"

"I WIN, ALEC! HAH!" Jane's triumphant crow and the final sound of a slap down of cards interrupted Isabella's words. Alec just rolled his eyes, still smirking and holding onto his last three cards.

"Calm down, sister. It isn't that big of an accomplishment," he responded sounding as jokingly salty as possible. He knew that Jane didn't care as much as she seemed to.

"Jealous," she sang back, crossing her arms and smiling pettily at him.

"Let's play again, then," Alec challenged, raising an eyebrow. Jane smirked and reached for the cards to reshuffle them into some other randomized order.

By this time, there was a small crowd in the room. Demetri, Heidi, and Jasper had all come to watch the duel between the two twins, and Isabella had noticed the excitement slowly rise as the game came to such a dramatic end.

"Let's play a round of Egyptian War," Felix suggested. It was a game that involved quick reflexes, physical violence, and loud shouting, so of course the entire guard loved to play it, apart from Renata, who wasn't loud enough to be heard, and Reina, who found the entire game completely uncouth and washed her hands of it the moment the first game started.

Jane enthusiastically counted out seven stacks of cards and placed the first card on the table (two of spades). Within seconds, the first collective slap happened, the screaming began, and the camaraderie slowly built up all over again. Heidi got out of the game soon, not quick enough to match the other guards, and soon afterwards Felix purposefully lost so that he could be with her, not wanting to play unless she was in it. The other guards were fighting to retain their spots in the game, but they slowly dropped out as they lost all of their cards and decided against rejoining the game. Soon enough, the only two players in the game were Jasper and Isabella.

While Jasper was good at reading people and could therefore react quickly enough usually, he wasn't as prepared around the guard he was playing against. Isabella was the kind of person who knew exactly how to react to him, not showing a single flicker of emotion when he won some of her cards or when she won some of his, the emotion he needed to play his next move. She would use the tapping method, meaning that she quickly memorized the sequence of her cards and threw away useless cards by tapping the pile and sacrificing her cards until she had jacks and easily won the entire deck. Jasper knew that she would win the second he had to go against her, but he still put up a valiant effort.

Isabella slapped her hand down one last time and neatly put a five of clubs underneath the car to use her last jack of diamonds and claim Jasper's few remaining cards. Jasper theatrically threw his hands up in defeat as she shuffled the fifty-two cards now in her hand while blinking innocently.

"Sorry, friend," she said with a smirk. Jasper just looked at her murderously. "I'll get you next time, you stupid shield," he said, pointing an accusing finger towards her.

"That's what you say every time, you exasperating empath," she shot back, leaning back against the couch as she placed the newly prepared pack of cards on the table. Jasper sighed loudly and shoved his hands behind his head, leaning back.

"Another game," he practically ordered.

Isabella rolled her eyes, and the rest of the guard laughed at her posed annoyance. "Fine then, your majesty," she said in a snide voice, "we'll just _have_ to play another round of this wretched game."

Jane dealt the cards out one more time, and soon, they were shouting and laughing again.

They didn't know that there was a little newborn peering around a doorway, watching them shriek with laughter at each collision or jokingly argue over the tiniest of details over a deck of flimsy, practically plastic cards. Jasper didn't feel her longing and timidity, being too overwhelmed by his own excitement and the addicting excitement of those surrounding him. But the newborn watched them and finally felt as though she didn't have to run from these people, that they were friends and were welcoming _her_ into their little circle. She felt privileged and lonely. She wanted to join, but was too afraid of new ones (especially that scarred one, the one that seemed happiest, the one that offered his assistance to her) to join. She bitterly felt the Catch-22 of not wanting to be alone but not wanting to talk to others at the same time in that exact moment. She didn't know how to overcome it, but she knew that she would soon. She would force herself to.

It was a beautiful time for them all, a time of peace before the inevitable maelstrom of emotions and decisions that was soon to come.

* * *

**If you have never played Egyptian War, you are simultaneously lucky and unlucky. Lucky because you didn't sprain your finger from it the way my friend has, unlucky because you've never felt the bond formed over spraining said fingers. It really is a violent game, but you have fun and feel triumphs momentarily as you claim an entire stack of cards. If you don't know what this game is, I know that it is called something else that I can't quite recall at the moment. You could also Google it, though I'm not sure how successful that would be.**

**This has been a bit of a filler chapter. Now what will happen? Well... time skip by about a month and you've got the idea ;)**

**Until next time! As usual, review if you are confused about anything, and I'll try to clear it all up next time without giving anything away.  
**

**~Shriayle**


	48. Syzygy: Bell Chimes Twice

**This chapter seems a bit boring. Hmm. You might get a bit more of that because tensions are building.  
**

**At least it's not as boring as the initial chapters were. Or as short.**

**REPLIES:**

**Holidai: Thank you for your kind words! I must say, this is a wonderful chapter to start on, as almost nothing is given away that you don't already know (i.e. the wedding). Read whenever you'd like, I guess xD Although, I have to ask, is the holiday thing a reference to your username?**

**Arabella Whitlock: Kristen probably doesn't trust the Volturi not to kill her, to be honest. And to be fair, the last human drinkers she really had major contact with did try that (James and Victoria). So. She does have some logic behind it.**

**Nyaaaaaaah: Thanks! And the entire _Twilight_ series's plotline will be almost the exact same, event wise. As you can see.**

**Maiannaise: Bree's an adorable little shy girl in my mind :3 She's painfully shy. _PAINFULLY. _Results in incapability to function with the others.**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Hmm... ;P**

**Guest: IT'S COME. IT'S TIME**

**I am in Loki's Army: Egyptian War is the best game ever. But I do remember playing at a camp once, coming home, asking others if they know what it is, and their being extremely confused. So. And THANKS!**

**Isabella love (Guest): Since I'm getting tired of this question, I'm just going to say it outright: it's going to be in one of the last four chapters. There's a reason why this story is not a romance :3**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: She is indeed. Kristen's slowly growing on me :)  
**

**I am the Story Teller: Many self-declaring accounts, there are. Thank you! The long-string thing is the result of careful planning on my part for like a month before I actually posted the first chapter. And I never really liked the almost gloss-over that Stephenie Meyer gave every coven besides the Cullens. I wanted to give them a bit more detail from my perspective :D YOU'RE AWESOME TOO WE WILL GO BE AWESOME TOGETHER YES.**

****Alice (Guest): YES THANK YOU FOR THIS HELP GODS BLESS. I didn't really feel like proofreading fyi. The Ms. was kinda on purpose because why not? The Mrs. felt odd to me, too. Not sure why. The 'this' thing seems to be a thing that I did when I changed what I wanted Alec to say without changing what I previously wrote. I also have the dodgiest d-key on my computer. It ends up not working at random times, as you have seen. I usually catch it, but I slip sometimes. Also, that STRATEGY IS THE STUPIDEST THING. The rule that 'you have to sacrifice a card if you touch the stack' is used to the person's advantage, and they slap the stack repeatedly until they end up with what they know to be a 'face card', usually a jack. THEN THEY WIN THE ENTIRE THING. I dislike playing with those people. Bree was originally supposed to come to Volterra as a witness and be treated much like Edward, Alice, and Kristen were, but then I started to feel really bad for Bree and just decided to let her join in a scene that isn't really written out. You're spot-on about the Marcus/Didyme/Bree relationship too, though I don't plan to focus on that particular relationship. Whenever I read up on Bree when researching, she seemed like someone who was abused by her parents, so that translated to a cautious nature towards the two vampires who claim to be her parents. Carlisle's being more than a bit arrogant of his status as an animal-drinking vampire. The thing with Kristen is that she's still IMMENSELY CONFUSED. Since she knows that vampires have a higher thinking capacity, one can assume that she wants to be changed so she can understand. Or just that she doesn't want to tip Edward off that she knows she's not his mate. She's kinda powerless at the moment. And who knows? I'm always dropping hints at every possible juncture so when you reread certain chapters you'll probably go "I DEFINITELY SAW THAT COME INTO PLAY NOW OH MY GOD" like the emphasized fascination Isabella has in books and music early on. There are also hints to future developments here that you haven't really caught ;) Also TIME-SKIP FROM THE TIME I WRITE THIS TO THE TIME YOU READ IT.  
****

****CheriseMarlie: "The Juniper Tree"? It was one of the original Grimm brothers' fairy tales, if I recall correctly. Nothing too wrong with it, just cannibalism, death, and beheadings. The usual.****

****Calista (Guest): Thank you! Yes, only nine chapters and lots of action to shove into them. Your comment on how well I portray the siblings' bonds is actually rather amusing, as I myself am an only child xD****

* * *

Kristen was still staring at the unchanging waves. They were blue on the horizon, the color of sapphires, with the baby-blue sky kissing the space in between. They seemed so united, so perfect. The sky was often bonded to the earth as well, but they seemed to be in an eternal embrace, with the earth grasping at the sky's heights and the sky almost reluctantly allowing it to. The sea and the sky seemed almost perfect for each other, the way that the sky rained down on the ocean and the ocean's waves. The water merrily bobbed up and down against the horizon line.

"Kristen, my darling?" That cursed, melodious, alluring voice. She wanted to tear out its owner's vocal cords for ensnaring her with it when she was lonesome and vulnerable. Too bad she couldn't do that quite yet; he was expecting something from her. She felt like an animal being brought up to slaughter, all for another's pleasure. She just hoped that the night wouldn't end with her lying a bloodless corpse.

"Yes, Edward?" she responded, trying to make her voice sound excited and upbeat, or just content at the very least. It apparently didn't work; the bronze-haired vampire furrowed his brow in slight confusion and cocked his head towards her. His expression smoothened out after a second, just accepting the fact that maybe she was nervous for what was ahead. What she had asked him for. He thought that she finally realized that it might be a bad mistake, after all. At least, he could hope.

"Are you feeling... up to this? I mean, the entire honeymoon situation. Isle Esme may be romantic, but we could take it easy if you want to," he said, sounding hopeful that she would call off his side of the deal.

Kristen basked in the glory of being able to hold something over this cocky, overconfident vampire for once. He really could be a prude, forcing her into marriage just to make love like the hormonal teenagers they really were.

"No. Tonight, I want you." _Not really_, she added mentally. She just knew that she wanted to exert this power over her so-called lover. He didn't need to know of her newfound hesitation. It would probably be better that he didn't, seeing as he would use it as an excuse to leave her human. That was the greatest cruelty of all; she already knew so much, and she honestly couldn't see herself as an older woman with children. It wasn't the life she imagined for herself. She imagined herself as an older teenager, or at most a young adult, always lounging on the couch and reading some book or maybe doing homework while blasting music.

Edward seemed solemn all of a sudden. Actually, the better word would be 'sulky' or perhaps 'sullen.' "Well, while I appreciate your leaving your first time to your husband, I think we should just wait at least one day to get settled here. We don't have to be too enthusiastic about this decision, after all." He sounded as though he were trying to assert his nonexistent authority.

"Oh Edward," Kristen sighed, feeling invigorated for the first time, dizzy with exhilaration. For the thousandth time, she thanked whatever God there was that Edward couldn't read her mind, no matter how much he wanted to. "When did I say this was my first time?"

His reaction, complete with gaping, stuttering, and spluttering, was priceless. She would willingly go through all of the pain in her life to get to this very moment, when she rendered a vampire speechless with horror for the first time.

"Two years ago. Before I came to Forks," she elaborated briefly. "Mostly just experimentation, to be honest. You weren't the first person I fell in love with, Edward, or the first one to break my heart. And you sure as hell won't be the proud owner of my V-card." She smiled, winked, and walked into the cabin of the boat, leaving a stupefied vampire on deck, mouth still open, staring at the place she had just vacated at the bow.

True to her word, that very night, she convinced Edward to take her to the bed, undress her as she undressed him, and follow through with his promise. At first, he was almost hesitant. That phase didn't last too long. Soon enough, he was crouched over her in the most possessive way that she had ever seen him.

Edward's thoughts reeled as he took in the human in front of her. Her nude form didn't exactly perform wonders for his body, but the very scent of her blood was enough of an aphrodisiac to compensate. He took a deep breath and leaned over Kristen one last time.

"We don't have to do this," he whispered to her.

"Just fuck me." She sounded snappy, impatient, not as loving as she usually sounded. She saw his throat bob as he swallowed nervously.

He awkwardly obeyed the order. She heard the frame of the bed splinter under his violent ministrations sometime later in the night; he clenched to it, breaking wood off, throwing it to the side, sometimes digging his carefully blunted nails into the pillows in an effort to keep his hands and strength off of her. Near the end of the night, he gave up on destroying the bed and just clung to her with unrestrained strength, sending shrieks of pain pouring out of her throat.

She knew it would leave marks in the morning. It bothered her more than she thought it would.

* * *

_"You're pregnant?" _Rosalie's garbled voice still carried her incredulity from an entire continent away.

"Yep. He didn't understand that condoms aren't illegal anymore and wasn't wearing one, I guess," Kristen responded, picking at her eggs. At this point, she honestly didn't give a fuck about Edward anymore, whether it be literally or mentally. She didn't care if he was listening, either.

She heard Rosalie almost _giggle_ slightly. _"Well, that's the virginal guy that I knew and hated for all of these years. Anyhow, I would think that you would be on the pill or something."_

"Human anti-child medications don't seem to work on weird vampire-hybrid children," Kristen snorted, shoving a forkful of egg into her mouth and chewing quietly. She glanced around and didn't see Edward anywhere, so she leaned forward as though Rosalie was sitting across the table from her. "Rose?" she said much more quietly, breathing the vampire's name. "I'm scared."

She heard the blonde vampire sigh. _"Look, I've got nothing for you. You know that I've been looking for ways to have children for decades, I assume. I know that isn't what you want. But I honestly can't give you any other advice than that. You can come back, get some support from Em, Ali, Esme, and me, but I haven't a clue what else to do. Goodness knows that Carlisle will care more about studying the baby than helping you birth it. You are birthing it, right?"_

Kristen bit her lip, though she knew that Rosalie wouldn't be able to see the nervous gesture. "I'm not sure, Rosalie. I never wanted this, human or no."

Rosalie was silent, pondering. _"Kristen, if you don't want the child, I'll raise it. I don't think there's any way possible to force a vampire out of life, unless you plan to set yourself on fire to be rid of the baby. You see how clingy Edward gets with you. Imagine a small child with similar tendencies. Even if it is half-human."_

"Lord have mercy on us all, if there was ever a tiny immature version of Eddie running around," Kristen grumbled, poking her stomach where it protruded slightly with a grimace. Rosalie's high-pitched, bell-like laughter echoed back into Kristen's ear.

* * *

"Jamie, when will you _not_ have bad news from the Cullens?" Caius said with a groan, leaning back in his throne and giving the guard an incredulous look.

Jamie shrugged helplessly, having nothing to say. "I apologize, sir king. It's not my fault that the golden-eyes are extremely fucking stupid."

"This is true," Jane muttered from behind Aro's throne. Alec had to obscure his chuckle with a well-placed cough upon hearing her snide comment.

Aro sighed again for maybe the millionth time since the Cullens practically adopted a mortal. "Jamie, please, elaborate on what you have found from the coven that seems to be the dumbest ones of our kinds this time."

"Well, they contributed to our wealth of knowledge, at the very least," Jamie offered. "The singer-human was impregnated by the one that calls himself her mate. Maybe that means that singers are the most biologically similar to the vampire that craves them or something. At the very least, all that I can say is that the child is growing at an astonishing rate; it may even be born at the end of this month, if not only days after it finishes. I would suggest finding out more information about possible hybrids wherever they can be found in order to combat the situation."

"I see," Marcus muttered, leaning back in his throne. He waved Jamie away, and the lesser guard bowed quickly before leaving the room. "This is the connection that I saw linking those two together. The connection of childbirth. It was a bit different than the other ones as well."

"You're rambling again, Marcus," Caius droned, massaging his temple.

"My apologies," Marcus responded unclearly, still deep in thought.

"Well, we're going to have to send out a message to as many covens as possible. Tell them to contact us if there are any myths about half-human half-vampire children in their native areas."

"If I may, sir," Isabella said politely, "I would suggest asking the Amazonians."

"Zafrina's group?" Aro asked sharply.

"Yes, sir. We have least contact with them; perhaps there is something buried within their native legends that can help?"

Aro nodded slightly, seeing her perspective. "Yes, Isabella, perhaps we will. Someone get me Lilianna. We need the swiftest to travel to the jungle."

"And God knows she needs to get rid of her energy," Reina muttered, leaving the room to get the requested guard.

* * *

Lilianna soon found herself navigating through thick jungle brush, the humidity causing her clothes to stick to her in a most unattractive way. "Why did I agree to do this," she muttered, rearranging the dark silver cloth around her head to block out the sun and pulling her khakis down for what felt like the hundredth time.

"An immortal?" A voice asked from behind her. Lilianna turned to see three women, their faces cautiously curious, their stance slightly defensive. They matched the description that Aro had given her days prior.

Lilianna bowed to them, inclining her head the slightest amount. "Indeed. I am Lilianna of the Volturi's lower guard. Zafrina, I assume?"

The woman in front of the other two narrowed her crimson eyes slightly and nodded.

"I have been looking for you. We have a slight crisis. A singer has been impregnated, and Aro wants to make sure that the child won't expose us."

Their reaction was quick and unpredictable. Zafrina's eyes shot wide open, and the two others behind her (Kachiri and Senna, Aro had called them, but she wasn't sure if those were their real names) stepped closer together, as if comforting one another.

"You ask of the dhampirs around here?" she asked sharply. Lilianna got the idea that she was the main spokeswoman for their group, so to speak.

"We do not know of their real name. We merely wish to ensure the survival of our kind," Lilianna replied.

Zafrina nodded slowly. "I see." She turned to one of her coven mates.

"Kachiri, please go find Huilen. I feel that she and Nahuel have much to discuss with this pale one."

The other vampire nodded, quickly darted forward to peck Zafrina on the lips, and dash away.

"Senna, go find where Joham is lurking."

The third vampire mirrored Kachiri's actions almost exactly before running off in the opposite direction.

Zafrina turned back to Lilianna, who was patiently waiting. "I will accompany you back to our current campsite for tonight. This is a large rainforest, after all. It will take the two of them until sundown to find what you seek."

Lilianna graciously accepted Zafrina's invitation and joined her under the shade of a thick piece of leather that had been carefully strung up to prevent any light from entering. The dark skin of the native vampires was more lustrous than sparkling, but it was still a noticeable difference from a typical human's skin. Lilianna stayed with Zafrina and told her what happened in the world outside of the forest.

"Carlisle's tribe has created a dhampir?" Zafrina asked in horror.

"Please, ensure that no one else knows."

"No one else ventures here. Does Carlisle know how dangerous one can be? The pregnancy is too fast, the way of birth too violent, the mothers almost always dead. How could he?"

Lilianna held up her hands helplessly. "Hell if I know. The only other thing that Aro told me prior to my leaving is that there was a possibility that you wouldn't cooperate, as one of Carlisle's closest acquaintances."

Zafrina held her head up higher. "We pride ourselves for setting the law higher than our friends, miss!" she proclaimed. "I hope you tell your precious king that."

"He isn't precious at all, but I will," Lilianna responded, leaning on the dirt ground, letting her cloak drag in the dust. "This is important though, you must admit."

Zafrina nodded as she leaned back herself. "Yes, this is an occasion that I am sure Carlisle will soon tell me of. I will try and remember what you tell me now."

Their conversation turned to idle chatter until Kachiri reappeared with two other natives in tow. Lilianna glanced over, confused. One of them had a heartbeat, a faster than usual one, but still a heartbeat.

"This is Huilen and Nahuel," Kachiri said quietly, gesturing first to the female and then to the male. "As you can probably hear, Nahuel himself is part mortal. Huilen's sister was his mother, who died giving him life. He changed her when she came to care for her sister."

Nahuel bowed slightly to Lilianna. His eyes were a darker brown, she noticed, not the crimson red or even black that she expected.

"It is an honor to meet you," Lilianna murmured. "Thank you for agreeing to talk to me."

Huilen gave her a hesitant smile. "Of course. Anything for the Volturi."

Her voice quivered at the last word.

Lilianna cocked her head. "Do you fear us?"

Huilen's head snapped up. She glanced from side to side before nodding slowly. Nahuel extended a comforting arm around her. She gratefully nodded to him.

"Why do you fear us?" Lilianna whispered.

"Your guards. They say that you will torture us if we don't agree."

Lilianna backed up slightly. "Are you serious? That's what they say now?" she asked, her voice raising in pitch and volume at her incredulity.

Nahuel pushed Huilen behind him, growling slightly. "Leave her alone," he snarled at Lilianna.

"I'm just amazed," Lilianna clarified. "Unless you count being asked politely to stay with us for three days as we investigate and deliberate in one of our finest guest rooms and access to everywhere in the Castle torture, we don't force our guests to suffer. Anyone undergoing a trial is treated innocent until proven guilty. At worst, the elites who do have significant powers use them so infrequently that I tend to even forget they have them. Alec uses his numbing to get rid of our thirst. Jane sometimes pinches you lightly if you ignore her long enough. Isabella protects us all. Demetri pretends to follow you around. Felix lifts up couches whenever game pieces fall underneath them. The list goes on and on! We use our gifts for fun, not for _torture_."

The four native vampires stared at Lilianna with awe in their eyes. They imagined the Castle as a chaotic place filled with screams and sadistic laughter. What this guard described sounded like a large, happy family-like coven, much more connected than the Olympia coven.

"Could we see this place?" Nahuel asked cautiously.

Lilianna blinked. "You want to see Volterra?"

"Well, it sounds nice, but I'm not sure how much of it can be trusted, yes?"

The blonde vampire shrugged. "Can't blame you on that. When I return home, you can come with and talk to Aro face to face."

"How do you plan to get back?" Zafrina asked curiously.

"Oh, just going to run back across the Atlantic. Anyways," she noticed the gapes on their faces, "where's the other girl, Senna, was it?"

"It was," Zafrina said, snapping out of her shock. "She will be back as soon as she finds Joham. We will explain to you about him as well."

When Senna returned, all six vampires sat down in the dim moonlight. Huilen took a deep breath and explained about how her sister was impregnated, how she craved blood, how the infant tore itself out of her stomach, how she watched her sister die, how she was bitten by Nahuel and awoke to see him slumbering beside her peacefully. He took over, telling Lilianna how she raised him, how she told him about his mother, how he hated himself for killing her and tearing away the chance to meet his mother. He recounted the first meeting with his father, a rather bad meeting, and about his three half-sisters.

Lilianna heard it all and slowly filed it away to show Aro later. She knew now that bringing them back would be much better as well, for it got rid of her own prejudices and gave Aro only the quote-en-quote 'raw footage' of the details.

The next day, they stayed under the cloth to avoid the sun. Zafrina showed Lilianna her gift briefly. That night, they went to the shore and Lilianna showed them just how fast she could run. Seeing that Nahuel couldn't quite get the high speed required to dash across the waves, Lilianna grabbed his wrist and ran, dragging him behind her, Huilen in hot pursuit. The three other natives stayed at the edge, shaking their heads at her enthusiasm to run, and reentered their jungle of a home to move camps again.

* * *

When Lilianna walked into the lobby, she nodded to Gianna, attracting her attention. "Gianna, are the kings in as usual?"

The human glanced at the figures behind her curiously before nodding. "Yes, they're expecting you, actually. Go right in," she said before looking back down at the papers on her desk. Huilen and Nahuel gave her a curious glance before following Lilianna through the hallways.

No one was standing in the hallways waiting for them, and when Lilianna pushed the marble doors open, only the three kings were sitting in the room, waiting for the guard to report. When she came back with two more figures with her, they sat up a bit straighter.

"Lilianna? Who are these? I do not believe I've seen them before. And is that a heartbeat that I hear, devoid of the prey-scent of the humans?"

Lilianna bowed her head to Aro. "Sir, these are Huilen and Nahuel, natives that the Amazonians kindly brought to speak with me and agreed to come here out of curiosity and wish for you to understand. Zafrina referred to the developing hybrid as a dhampir, and Nahuel is himself one of these rare creatures. They both have first-hand knowledge of how the birthing goes and the maturation process of the dhampir. I believe that they can help you, sir, but I do not believe that my words by themselves will be enough."

Caius's eyes landed on Nahuel's. Rather than shrinking back like many vampires would do, the dhampir straightened his shoulders, locked his teak brown eyes onto Caius's crimson orbs, and stared back defiantly. Caius's lip quirked upwards in a smirk and he leaned back, nodding approvingly.

"Of course, Lilianna," Aro took over, turning to the other two. "I am Aro of the Volturi. We govern the world, ensure that humans do not know of our existence unless they are to be turned. I have the skill to see all of the thoughts in your mind with a touch, though I usually only see those you want me to. If you would do me the honor, I can see everything you did and winnow what it is that I need to know."

He held out his right hand, palm up, and nodded to Huilen and Nahuel.

"You may give your memories to me yourself, or you may leave peacefully. We are not the cruel group of leaders that others might believe we are."

Nahuel nodded at Huilen encouragingly when she gave him a panicked glance. She blinked before closing her eyes and tentatively sliding her hand into Aro's.

Aro clenched her hand for a brief two seconds before letting go and turning to Nahuel. Raising an eyebrow, he offered the same hand in the same position: palm up as though begging. Nahuel slid his hand into the grip and refused to break eye contact with the king even once. Aro released his hand and silently went back to his seat.

"There is much to discuss here, brothers," he told Marcus and Caius quietly. Raising his voice, he summoned Lilianna again. "It seems as though we may need to consult with these guests at a later time. If you would, please take them to the rooms, Lilianna."

The lesser guard nodded and took both of the new figures' hands again. Before they could protest, she had run out of the room, dragging them along behind her.

Aro watched them stumble as Lilianna tugged them behind her. "One day, that girl will be the death of us and many others."

Caius chuckled at the implication. Marcus just shrugged at his statement and got out of his throne, exiting the room via a hidden door to go find his mate and see if she had any success in getting Bree to open up.

* * *

"Aro, Reina wants to see you again. Says that she saw a twist in fate that she didn't expect until now."

Aro sighed before getting up and walking around his desk. Jane was standing in the doorway of his office, her arms crossed, staring straight at him. He leaned against his desk and mirrored her arm position.

"What do you mean, Jane?"

The petite guard shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. "I just told you exactly what she told me. So go on, they're in the white-cloak's lounge."

Aro followed the guard to the room, where Reina was crouching in the center of the room, eyes glassy. Her blood-red hair fell in her eyes in thin strands, and her hands shook as she saw.

"Reina? Is something the matter?" Aro asked sharply, suddenly focusing as soon as he saw how panicked the guard was.

"Everything's the matter," she muttered, clenching at the hem of her cloak. "Everything's changing, just because of one tiny difference. Who cares if one of them sees it? But it has changed the course of our futures. It hasn't even happened yet. But we have to let it happen, as fate has set out for us."

"Reina!"

Her eyes snapped to Aro's. "Take it, take it!" she practically shrieked, thrusting her hand towards him. Aro blinked before hesitatingly taking her hand.

_A distended stomach. Light brown eyes wide open with fear and pain. A shriek of agony; the bulge moves. Panicked voices in the background, blabbing. A scalpel to the stomach. Pine trees and groups of figures, whispering as they hovered around another. Wide eyes, panicked again, this time a bright, glowing red. Dashing through a forest, marveling at the sights. Pinpointing a mountain lion and leaping on it to empty it of its fluids. Snow falls. Even more figures surrounding the original. An entering mass. A starting massacre._

_Death on his hands._

Aro jerked backwards, his eyes widening as they took in Reina's slouched form again. She seemed hollowed out, unable to make out what she actually saw.

"Don't worry about this," Aro said, walking out. "We will get through this, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" Reina asked.

Aro gave a humorless laugh. "At least we won't be decimated and torn out of our home again."

He walked out, still thinking

* * *

**Ehhh, the ending is kinda bad. But it's the most logical stopping place, so.  
**

**Any questions? Any comments? Review and I'm sure to respond!**

**~Shriayle**


	49. Syzygy: Bell Chimes Three Times

**AGH THESE CHAPTER TAKE SO LONG NOW AHHH. ALL OF WHAT I WANT TO WRITE NEEDS ALL OF THIS SET-UP AND BLAH.**

**Anyhow, we're coming closer to the end! I've got one final question for you: for an extra, I was thinking of doing either an 'Ask the Characters Anything' style piece or a timeline. Any preferences? Review or PM me please~**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock: Well, there's not too much new content or anything haha. Also, not sure if 'greaking' is a real word. Typo? Nahuel was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, but whatever. It adds TENSIONNNN  
**

**Alice Alessa: YAY A USER TO PUT TO THE NAME. I kinda suspected that, since I think my foreshadowing is as subtle as a cloud raining fish on my school. I love Bree as well :D She's kind of based on my friend, whose name also happens to be Bree. On Kristen's patience, it really sometimes matters. But yes, Kristen and Edward is indeed an accident waiting to happen. As I imagine Kristen a more adventurous, curious girl than Bella, I can easily imagine that she wouldn't be a virgin if she asked Edward to have sex with her, which was fun to write, I must say. Will canon Renesmee happen? Maaaaybe, maaaaybe not. Finally, on the mate thing, I did not imagine this story to have so many reviewers asking about mates when I thought up the plotline. To be completely honest, Isabella's mate plays literally no role in this story whatsoever; TLoaP was written to be a story focusing on the siblings' relationship, which is why it is classified as a 'family' and not as a 'romance'. In fact, Isabella didn't have one in my original manuscripts; I just decided to add the mate in after I got about 50 reviews asking after him. So while he does begin to shape Isabella's personality a little bit more, Isabella's mate will not be too key a factor, and the character I have chosen to be her mate will not be defined only by the fact that he is her mate. He will have a personality that shines out more, like how Demetri is known as a skilled tracker with a sardonic streak thicker than Alec's before he is known as Jane's mate (hopefully). And I always loved the Amazonians. They were much more put together than the Cullens were, if you ask me. And before I went through and rewrote vast swathes of this chapter, it was the most inane thing I have ever written. Not too sure about what your P.S. is supposed to be, though.**

**IAILA: Thanks!**

**Birdy1210: Happy (belated) birthday! Fun fact, I updated on my birthday once as well, but not on purpose xD I just happened to have a chapter done at the time.**

**YunaNeko: Thanks again.**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Shit just got real.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: Kristen might know that she has a warrant out for her death, and she plans to flip it the bird every single time. That girl.**

**BadAssTwilightGirls: W A O W**

**Guest: At least you didn't have to wait too long.**

**Rinlovesyou: Thanks! Descriptions are the easiest part, to me.**

**VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: Indeed.**

**Rusky01: Well, I've already answered your questions, so I'm just going to say here that you're asking the right questions.**

**Guest: The Denalis have already been mentioned. Back when Sasha and Vasilii were killed. You can see Isabella's reaction there.**

* * *

Aaron walked through the hallway, holding his hands behind his back and lacing his fingers together. He was admiring the artwork that covered the walls as he walked down; the Volturi were always commissioning artists in the neighborhood to draw whatever they felt would work in the Castle, and the mortals always tried their hardest after being chosen by their rulers and paid a hefty sum too. It was a win-win situation.

After staring at the paintings for a sufficient amount of time, Aaron found himself in front of the door to Aro's office. He took a deep breath and gently pushed the door open.

Aro was inside, drawing something on a sheet of paper. Aaron watched the pen in his hand dart about, adding details and shading wherever necessary. He saw a forest next to a village, with shabby looking houses beneath a hill that the viewer was standing on, and a couple tendrils of smoke swirling from between the buildings. Aaron wasn't too sure about the meaning behind this picture; why was Aro so interested in such a dilapidated collection of houses, with maybe someone's fireplace going out of control?

Aro finally noticed that Aaron was standing in front of him, completely still. He fluidly dropped the pen and stuffed the paper into a drawer of his desk, as if hoping that Aaron didn't see it. Aro stood up and smiled benevolently to Aaron.

"I was wondering why you took such a long while," the king said pleasantly.

Aaron bowed almost out of habit, muttering apologies underneath his breath.

"Aaron, stand up straight. I do not blame you for anything. I merely state that I expected you a while ago," Aro admonished. The guard immediately straightened back out and stood stiffly. Aro shook his head at the dramatic gesture but just continued onto what he was going to say.

"Aaron, as you should know, the Cullens are being rather stupid as of now. We have made a public decision to go investigate their case in a couple of months, in the dead of winter, but I have been harboring the notion that we could go earlier, as in maybe in a couple of weeks. Your task is to think of this yourself and have Isabella cloak us all away from that clairvoyant of theirs, so they can't be too prepared by then. Afterwards, I need you to come back so we can begin to discuss our strategy of taking these animal-drinkers down."

"Yes, sir," Aaron barked out, a smile beginning to form on his face. He never liked anyone who thought so highly of themselves, like the men he once had to serve who thought that God Himself would lick their feet because of their easily sunburned skin.

"Thank you, Aaron," Aro said, dismissing the former slave with a wave of the hand. Aaron nodded before leaving the office and walking down to the elite guards' typical game room.

As he made his way down the hall, he heard a shriek from the room he was trying to get to, followed by Jane screaming, "John! Really? Was this fucking _necessary_?!"

Aaron hurried himself up to get to the room. He saw Alec, Demetri, and Felix all on the ground and laughing openly, almost immobilized by their howls. Isabella was rubbing her temple while she sniggered under her breath, caught in between exasperation and elation at the sight. Jane was practically livid, but even she saw the hilarity of the situation.

Someone had taken the furniture from the room and flipped it upside-down, securing it onto the ceiling somehow. It was a perfect mirror image of the room as well; the only difference was that the furniture, the game sets, even the deck of cards, had been carefully glued to the ceiling. Even the carpets had been secured with some sticky substance. Aaron found himself chuckling with the other guards.

John stuck his head around the corner, eyes glinting in mischief. Aaron could clearly see the wicked smirk that was plastered across his face.

"Like my bit of interior decorating, do you, Jane?" he shouted down before sprinting away as Jane darted after him, still shrieking at him.

"It's better than the golden-eyed woman's, I'll tell you that," Alec muttered, still laughing to himself.

"That's rude of you to say," Demetri said, sounding almost insulted.

"Yeah; that woman doesn't even do the decorating. It looks as though the male took her previous designs and changed them for his own purposes," Felix added in.

"I stand corrected," Alec said with a shrug.

Isabella finally noticed Aaron. "So sorry, Aaron; did you have something to say to us before this?" she asked, gesturing at the furniture on the ceiling and sending her brother and the two other male guards into hysterics again.

"Uh, yeah, I did, actually," Aaron said, regaining his focus and his breath at the same time. "Aro had some strategic things that he wanted me to relay to you; something about casting a barrier between our minds and the golden-eyed clairvoyant's in order to block her from being able to see what we do. He's already laid out the bait; they're expecting us to be there around the solstice. We're actually going to be there on the equinox."

"That's in literally two weeks, Aaron," Alec dead-panned.

Aaron shrugged. "I don't make the decisions around here. That's boss-man's job."

"'Boss-man'?" Felix repeated. "I'm calling him that the next time I see him."

"You didn't hear it from him," Isabella interjected, gesturing to Aaron.

They all laughed again, the tension of the situation destroyed by the ridiculousness of the upside-down furniture. Speaking of which...

"So, how are we going to get all of those back down?" Demetri asked casually, pointing at the ceiling of the room. "I don't know about you, but I don't think that card games will work when gravity's working against you."

Isabella sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it out of her face. "Well, we're going to have to take it down now, aren't we?" she said with a sigh.

"Or we could wait for John to come back and do it for us," Felix added.

"Lazy ass," Demetri jeered. Felix shrugged. Isabella smacked Felix on the shoulder.

"You're tall enough to help. Get in there," she said, pushing him into the room. Felix fake-glared at the two of them before shaking his head and slowly taking all of the furniture off of the ceiling.

Isabella watched him work, shaking her head slightly. _Only in Volterra would furniture on the ceiling matter more than a possible war breaking out_, she thought to herself wryly.

* * *

A couple of hours after Jane finally caught up with John and got him to take the furniture off of the ceiling in his wolf form, Isabella walked into Marcus's office, preparing for a day of writing countless epistles.

The messages were for nomads and covens alike, informing them that yes, the Cullens were doing something suspicious in their neck of the woods, that no, they would not be going to execute them and steal their gifted vampires if necessary. Aro may have once done this for his own benefit, but no more. He had long since outgrown the power-hungriness that the rest of the world unfortunately still attributed to him.

She signed one off anonymously, saying that it was from 'The Castle.' Everyone knew the moniker anyhow; it was useless not to use it. She read through the letter, one meant for a Garrett in America:

_Garrett,_

_We are writing to you from Italy to ensure that you know exactly what is to happen. The Cullens are involved with a legal matter pertaining their newest member. Though she is now a vampire, they did not keep their promise to change her at the end of last year. As this shouldn't concern too many others, we don't know if they will contact you to try and make you into witnesses for their side. In case of that circumstance, know this: we will not harm a single hair on your body. The only vampires to be punished on that day are guilty members of the Olympia coven. If you are there, you will witness, yes, but you will not be punished for doing so. Let this letter be our promise to you._

_-The Castle_

It wasn't the fanciest of messages in the most eloquent of words, but it would do. Isabella quickly put it into an envelope for Jamie or Lilianna to deliver. Those two were almost running ragged from all the tasks they were asked to perform, but they weren't too worried about it. It was their duty to serve, after all.

Isabella glanced at the list to see who was next. She had to reread the list to ensure that she didn't misread the first time, as unlikely as that was. The words were in Marcus's elegant script: _Denali coven_.

She hadn't really talked to the Denalis recently; their contact with the Cullens was the main source of their estranged relationship. She wrote out the standardized message before hesitantly taking another sheet of paper and writing another message.

_I hoped it wouldn't come to this. Hello Tanya and Kate and Irina, and from what I hear from Demetri, hello to you Carmen and you Eleazar as well. I hope there isn't too much bad history between us; I wish every day that Sasha didn't change Vasilii as much as I'm sure you do as well. It is too bad that the Cullens had to flout the laws one time too many; while we can overlook the oddities of drinking animal blood, we cannot overlook leaving a hormonal human teenager behind, full of secrets and pent-up rage. I'm surprised that Kristen herself didn't spew the knowledge to the humans at the first chance she got. I would have expected her to._

_I wish that I could contact you with better information. Alas, there isn't much else I can say to you. I hear that you drink animal blood to throw the Cullens off of your tracks whenever they come up to visit. That sounds like torture of the greatest kind to me. Eleazar, not much has changed in the Castle. There are new members of the guard, yes, but not too many that you should worry about. I hear that Aro is letting others come watch the trial, but whether or not this is true is a different question. Demetri says that he is still somehow able to stay in contact with you; I pray that we can continue to communicate through this route._

_If you ever need us, remember that the Castle will always try and help what you want._

_-Isabella_

She didn't bother rereading the letter before folding it and putting it into the envelope with the other message. It wasn't something that she wanted to look at again; she didn't expect a reply at all. It was a spur of the moment thing that she decided to send on a whim, after all.

She closed the envelope, making sure to run her fingernails over the fold of the thick paper, and set it on the stack of letters she had already prepared. They were organized by continent, though there were only five piles as shapeshifters in Africa tended to scare vampires away and Antarctica wasn't hospitable enough, what with a limited human population making penguins the only food source. America and Europe had by far the most letters, though there were a fair few for Asian countries.

Isabella was tired of this game. She didn't want to have to do all of this just for one little human who couldn't help but fall for the immortal world and the vampire who strung her along as a plaything as he prepared to murder her.

Stupid little girl, couldn't just fall for another mortal, happily procreated, and died; no, she had to fall for a being so dangerous to her that he hungered for the very substance pumping through her veins.

Isabella picked up another sheet of paper, glanced at the list again, and began writing another letter. _To Makenna and Charles..._

* * *

"Jake, really, go back to Lizzie!" Kristen groaned.

Her shifter friend shook his head obstinately. "I promised you that I would care for you, even if you ended up not being my imprint," he said stubbornly.

Kristen tried to get up to smack his arm, but her inflated body didn't let her. She had been bedridden for days and a strong case of cabin fever was starting to wash over her. She didn't really care; what she did care about was that her idiotic, jackass, wonderful friend was refusing to stay with his love, which would in turn cause him spasms of internal pain. She knew of the strength of the imprint bond. Once, she longed for it herself.

"Do it for Lizzie, then," she croaked. Jacob had been so upset by Kristen's pregnancy that he had driven to a mall, seen the red-haired girl, and promptly fell in love with her. She was funny, loyal, and could talk about cars with him for hours. What more could he want? More importantly, _why wasn't he with her?!_

"Kristen, you were my friend before I met Lizzie, and I promised to stay here before I imprinted on her," Jacob repeated, pushing her back onto the sofa gently. "I'm not leaving you."

Kristen sighed before she leaned back. "Can you pass me the cup?" she asked in a tired voice.

Jacob nodded, passing her the opaque white cup filled with blood, wrinkling his nose as she drank out of it thirstily. "Geez, I don't think I'll ever get used to you doing that," he muttered. She hummed in response, still swallowing the red fluid.

"I wish this stupid baby just kept its cravings to something more normal, like ice cream or something. Who doesn't love ice cream? Or brownies. Even some shitty vegetable, like broccoli or something. Why does it have to be fucking blood?" Kristen grumbled.

Jacob grinned at her, showing off his pointed teeth. "Not my fault you hooked up with a leech," he sang out.

"Shut your face," Kristen muttered around the straw, sucking up every last droplet of blood from the cup. The once disgusting rusty taste had mellowed out into a salty-sweet flavor. She relished it now, though the scent had once triggered her gag reflex. Pregnancy was weird.

"Do you mind asking Rosalie to nab me another?" she asked, holding the cup out. Jacob made a huge show of gingerly holding the cup between the tips of his fingers and wrinkling his nose again.

"HEY, BLONDIE!" he shouted, turning his face towards the kitchen. "WE NEED SOME MORE HUMAN JUICE OVER HERE PRONTO!"

"THAT'S THE STUPIDEST NAME FOR BLOOD I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE, YOU DISGUSTING ANIMAL!" Rosalie responded. "WE'LL GET YOU SOME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, KRISTEN!"

"'KAY!" Kristen yelled with a hoarse voice. She loved these exchanges, though they never had them when Edward was around. He was too much of a buzzkill to take part, and he ended up forcing the others to stop the screaming.

Alice was the one that brought the cup in after their 'conversation', holding it much more comfortably but looking completely uncomfortable as she smelled the intoxicatingly alluring scent.

"Take it, Kris, take it!" she said frantically. Kristen leaned forward to take the blood, but her fingers when rigid the second they brushed the edge of the cup.

"A-Alice?" she whispered, looking down at her stomach. She had heard something. She had felt something.

"What is it?" she asked, putting the cup down on the table and leaning forward.

"Did you hear-" Kristen's words cut off with an inhuman shriek. Alice and Jacob exchanged panicked glances. They had heard a ripping noise followed by what sounded like chewing.

Kristen threw herself back and lay prostrate on the ground, looking up at the ceiling, biting her lip to hold the screams back.

"I think it's coming," she whimpered.

"ROSALIE! ROSE, GET CARLISLE AND A TOWEL!" Alice shouted. "Dog, hold her head steady, make sure that she doesn't injure herself."

Jacob didn't shoot an insult back to Alice as he would have normally done, choosing to do as the vampire said and hold Kristen down.

"Jake, I'm scared," the human whispered, shivering as she took in Jacob's warmth and the pain in her stomach.

"It'll be fine," Jacob said through his teeth.

He had no clue how 'fine' it would be.

Rosalie burst in, holding a soft, black cotton towel in one hand and dragging Carlisle along with the other. She laid out the towel and frantically placed Kristen on it, holding her head still.

"Dog, get Esme, please," she begged, staring only at Kristen and the rapidly enlarging pool of blood under the surface of her skin. Something was very wrong.

Jacob immediately bolted, following the scent of the maternal vampire, and when he returned with her in tow, they saw Kristen screaming, a part of the towel shoved into her mouth to prevent her from biting on her tongue or lip, Alice trying in vain to hush her, Rosalie carefully ripping parts of her shirt back, and Carlisle frantically trying to perform a Caesarian section.

"The baby's stuck in the membrane," he ground out, still sawing away. He injected more morphine in the area. "It's trying to bite its way out."

Kristen whimpered again, grabbing Alice's hand with hers and squeezing. Alice kept whispering comforting words.

Jacob didn't know quite what to do. He decided just to hold Kristen's legs down to prevent any other damage.

"We have to be as calm as possible," Rosalie said in a low voice. "The baby is more intelligent than we think. It needs to understand that it shouldn't be hurrying the birth, that we're going to help it."

"What's going on in here?!" Edward's loud voice cut into what Rosalie was going to say. He walked in at the sight of his father figure putting a scalpel against his wife's bloated womb, the dog holding her legs down as they twitched, Rosalie holding the shirt back and trying to say something, and his other sister holding his wife's hand. Edward pushed Alice away, dislodging their hands in the process. The second that Alice was torn away from her, Kristen yelped and tried to reach for her again.

"It's alright, love, I have you now," Edward purred, putting his hand in Kristen's frantically jerking one. Kristen recoiled almost immediately; his hand was too hard, his skin too cold, the shape just wrong. She wanted the other one back.

"Edward, get back," Rosalie said with a warning voice. Edward didn't know why until she nodded to Carlisle, who took a deep breath, held it in, and cut through Kristen's skin.

Immediately, blood welled at the surface of her stomach. Edward's head spun as he smelled the undiluted scent, one more tantalizing than anything he had ever smelled before. He was reaching for one of the fallen droplets before he realized what was happening and forced himself to sit back down. His mouth started to water, filling with venom, but he swallowed it back with difficulty and held onto Kristen's hand.

"I need one of you to bite it open," Carlisle managed to say with his limited air supply.

Jacob looked at them all in a panic. "Why do you need to bite it out?" he asked.

"Our teeth are the only thing capable of cutting through vampire skin," the doctor replied in a choked voice. Almost immediately, Alice dashed out of the room. They heard her take a huge breath before she ran back in, knelt next to Rosalie, and carefully sliced the rest of Kristen's stomach open with one of her canines.

"Alice, I should do it, she's my mate," Edward tried to say, but he had to cut himself off upon smelling her blood, tasting the smell.

"You can't, you'll kill her before you could," Alice growled back before finishing the deed, parting the womb carefully, and pulling out the blood-soaked baby. She tapped it on the back carefully, and it gave a harmonious sounding cry. Rosalie ripped off a portion of the towel and handed it to Alice, who wrapped the baby girl up in it before passing it to the blonde vampire.

"It's a girl, Kristen," Alice whispered, looking over at her adopted sister before gasping.

Edward was preparing to bite her throat, not able to stand the bloodlust any longer. Alice could see him extend his fangs, almost pierce the skin-

She leaped at him, pushing Edward into the sofa and sending it skittering across the room. Edward snarled loudly, his irises pure black. He was lost to the call of her blood.

Kristen began to scream in kind. He _had_ bitten her. He had put a single drop of his filthy venom in her.

Alice immediately tore off Edward's hand, breaking the fingers off, and threw the entire bundle out the window. As her brother writhed on the ground in pain, she raced back, giving a desperate look to Jacob.

"Please, Jacob, please understand, I have to do it, she's already started, I have to finish this!" she gasped out. Jacob's eyes widened as he understood. He staggered backwards at the implications before nodding and leaving the room.

"I can't watch," he said raggedly.

Alice closed her eyes, took another breath, taking in the blood scent, and carefully bit into Kristen's neck, feeling the blood spurt against her tongue, tasting the ambrosia. She immediately leaned back, unable to let herself feed off of the poor girl. Kristen's screams redoubled as Alice's venom fought off Edward's and began the transformation. The clairvoyant grabbed Kristen's hand again, preparing to wait three long days.

Kristen was turning into a walking gemstone, a jewel amongst humans now. She was becoming one of them.

And Alice hated herself for it.

* * *

Rosalie wasn't sure what to make of the newborn child. She was growing at a rate that outsped human children, which worried everyone, but she was still the joyous being that everyone expected her to be. Edward was still sulking because he didn't get to change Kristen (something about not being able to taste his singer) and Kristen was drifting away from Edward every day.

She grew closer to Rosalie and Alice at the same time, ignoring Edward's pleas for her to come see their new home and choosing to chat with the future-seeing vampire instead. She had only gone to the cottage, taken a look around, and then promptly left, finding the scent of a mountain lion to be far more attractive than the little cottage.

Rosalie thought she knew why, too, but she wasn't going to disclose it. She didn't even let it be a thought in her mind. The only thing she concentrated on was helping Kristen train herself so she could project her shield. The shield was a surprisingly unsurprising development; Kristen had always been able to defend herself against Edward's ability, so what else could it be? It wasn't too advanced; Alice could still see her future, after all. But it was better than nothing.

The blonde vampire felt the small figure in her arms thrash about slightly. Kristen called her Renesmee, some sort of amalgamation of Renee and Esme, her two mother figures' names, but the child didn't seem to take to it as readily as anyone thought it would. It responded better to Nessie, as the dog had been calling her. Speaking of which, the dog had left a while ago and never returned, probably with his mate or imprint or whatever she was called.

An image of a bottle formed in her mind. Rosalie glanced down and saw the tiny hand pressed against her face.

"Want another bottle of blood, Renesmee?" Rosalie cooed at the copper-headed baby in her arms.

"Not Reh-neh-meh. Ness," the baby grumbled back, her brow furrowing and her lower lip sticking out.

"I'm sorry, little one," Rosalie said with a sigh. "Do you want another bottle of blood, _Nessie_?" She emphasized the name change. Immediately, Renesmee's face lit up and she nodded gleefully.

"Where momma?" Nessie asked. Rosalie felt herself freeze up in the middle of selecting a blood bag.

"She's not here right now, Nessie," Rosalie responded slowly; Kristen was out avoiding Edward, as usual.

"Momma never come back to me," Nessie mumbled. "Was I bad as baby in her belly?"

"Oh no, of course not," Rosalie reassured. "She just..." _didn't want you to begin with._

Renesmee squirmed in her arms, gleefully unaware of Rosalie's inner turmoil, staring happily at the blood as it splashed out of the plastic it came in and into a baby's bottle for the little dhampir.

* * *

**hi yes i can make jacob not-renesmee's-imprint with no regrets thank you very much. I actually really liked Lizzie for the half-a-page she was featured, so.**

**Review if anything confuses you! Thanks for reading~  
**

**-Shriayle**


	50. Syzygy: Black-Out

**You know how I told you that this would end with December and 2014? I'm keeping that promise with only six chapters left and about 12 days to get them to you. But I might not update until after Christmas because of college applications. Many essays to write, I have.**

**ALSO I HAD ALL OF THESE REPLIES WRITTEN OUT BUT MY COMPUTER'S INTERNET FROZE AND I LOST IT ALL. UGH.**

**REPLIES:**

**YunaNeko: Thanks!**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: That he does, indeed. Never liked Edward.**

**angelsakurat2: At this point, I'll tell you exactly when: chapters 53 and 54. For those keeping track, that's literally two chapters away from story's end.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: Here's more for ya :D And I'm not particularly sure which character you're talking about, to be honest.**

**Alice Alessa: Foreshadowing is so painful to do ahhhhh. It's easier now that I've got this story completely planned out, with barely any wiggle room to add in some other things. I remember glancing through the Twilight archives and seeing story after story labelled 'Romance' and I got kinda fed up with it. I just thought, 'What would happen if I wrote a story about Jane and Alec?' and this story concept was born. I realized that it was harder to humanize them without an older figure to guide them through the beginning years, so boom Isabella enters the story. Jane is one of my favorite characters (the others being Alec, Leah, and Felix hehe) so I had to made her into a humanistic character. The mate-thing with Jane and Alec happened surprisingly early long because I didn't want to include OCs or bend the history that Meyer made, no matter how fantastical it already was. I just like having Isabella as a single person who is more like an older sister to everyone than a lover to one person. Oh, Edward, where do I begin with that one... well, there's still a little bit more I can do with him, I guess. Alice is more sympathetic at this point, so she's trying to be a bit nicer. Why? You'll have to see. And John's prank was something I googled since I had no idea about pranks he could pull now. He's an imaginative person, I guess. And John likes the ceiling; no one else can really reach it all that well. The Jacob interaction was completely spontaneous, but as I was crafting my ultimate list of characters, I realized that he needed to have an imprint. I didn't really like the Jacob/Renesmee thing that was going on. And Lizzie was an awesome opportunity to get Jacob away from a newborn vampire and newborn dhampir. I like writing more uncouth things. And I wish I thought of the mop thing now too xD Sadism may not seem all that great, but there are times when you gotta love it.**

**PS. hello to you too**

**AgitatedDog9288: I'm pretty sure I saw one of your stories on the PJO archive when I was looking through it :D Thanks for reading!**

**Arabella Whitlock: Garrett's a nice guy; not sure how he's going to turn out quite yet, though.**

**IAILA: That happened in this story so many times. I didn't anticipate Caius, John, Aaron, and Lilianna being much more than a name drop, to name just a few.**

**Guest: Look backwards now, then ;)**

* * *

"TANYA! TANYA, COME QUICK!"

The strawberry-blonde vampire raced into the room where her sister sat, horrified. Irina had been in the middle of opening the mail for the day, but she seemed frozen, with two clean, white pieces of paper in her hand, covered in a delicate, flowing calligraphy.

"Irina? What's up?" she asked, confused until she saw the two sheets of paper in both of Irina's hands. She reached over and delicately plucked one out of Irina's left hand and perused it. Certain words stood out to her: namely,'_Cullens_','_legal matter_','_newest member_','_witnesses for their side_'and'_punished_'.

Tanya groaned loudly as she crumpled the sheet of paper in her hand and threw it onto the chair next to Irina. The thick paper crunched loudly as she did so. "Damn animal drinkers, what did they do now?"

Irina gave her a helpless look. "We have to go see, but remember, we can't warn them. Treason laws and all of that; only the Castle is to inform the coven in question about trial dates and other legalities," she said, listing the requirements off on her fingers.

At that precise moment, Kate walked into the room, throwing a spark nonchalantly between her hands as if it were some kind of toy, followed shortly by Eleazar and Carmen. "Hey, Carlisle called. Wants us to go down to Washington and talk to him. D'you guys know why?" she asked, letting the electricity dissipate and reaching into her pocket to hold up her cell phone.

Tanya and Irina exchanged a glance before handing Kate and Eleazar both sheets of paper without a single word. Kate raised an eyebrow at the hastily straightened out sheet she was holding before she read through it and realized how serious the matter actually was.

"Well, shit," she managed to say, gaping at the message.

"Yeah, Carlisle's fucked up big time," Tanya said. "So what do we do now, then?"

Eleazar was holding Isabella's personalized message for them. He whistled lowly at the simple signature at the end. "Well, we've got more information than others, seeing as Isabella herself has written this note. We should go down to the Cullens after diluting our eyes again, see what they've got to say. Maybe let them know about things in Washington."

"Sounds like a good idea, Eleazar," Tanya acknowledged. "Alright then, we go to Forks tomorrow." The entire coven nodded. Well, the entire coven bar one.

"Tanya, would you mind letting me come later?" Irina asked quietly, folding the paper and carefully sliding it back into the envelope. "I need to sort out a few last things."

Tanya looked at her sister sympathetically. She had once been so vibrant, full of life. With Laurent's death, something that the Olympia coven had yet to explain fully, she had become the shell of the person she once was. It was a tragedy, to say the least.

"Sure, Irina," Kate responded softly for Tanya. "Take as much time as you need. Come whenever you want to."

Their sister gave them a grateful smile before walking back upstairs. The four other vampires heard a door close quietly. They stood still, exchanging helpless glances, incapable of deciding what to do next.

"We should go as soon as possible. We can't let Carlisle get suspicious of us," Eleazar ventured into the stiff silence.

Tanya shot him a thankful look at his attempt to relieve the room's tension. "Yes, we need to start hunting animals as soon as possible. Amber eyes, we can play off. Red ones? We'd see ourselves killed if only just by Emmett."

Carmen shook her head. "He's too soft for that. He wouldn't."

"You never know, Carm," Kate responded, stretching her arms high above her head with an exultant sigh. "He's still one of them."

Tanya knew that her sister was aware of Emmett's incredible gentleness and caring nature. No matter how derogatory the Denali coven was to the Cullens, some of them were okay.

"Let's just go, guys," she said, allowing her voice to sound commanding, before walking out of the house and sprinting towards the nearest herd of moose, not even listening to find out if the others were following her.

* * *

Irina took a deep breath. It had been days since her sisters and somewhat-sister and somewhat-brother had left to head south. She had no idea how many; she didn't know how long it had been. She had long since stopped caring about the passage of time in days or even weeks, marking it with the times that her throat purred in comfort or clawed in thirsty rage. Her blonde hair, once so carefully well-kept, now flew about her head in wayward strands. She didn't care about it either. It could rot in hell for all she cared. _She_ could rot in hell for all she cared. Why did the sun still come up so happily, shining down on them all and setting them all a-glittering? It shouldn't come up anymore. Not since he died.

Irina never thought she would feel this kind of pain, this heart-wrenching, destructive agony before meeting him. She was a succubus, for crying out loud! She was a seductress, a lustful person, someone that you had a one night stand with, not a lasting relationship, not if you were smart enough to understand.

But he had come up to her, recommended by his killers, and had seen her and courted her and loved her. He had willingly stayed with her, weathering her tempers and soothing her sorrows. When she thought of the mother she lost, he was there to embrace her and whisper comforting words into her ear. He was everything that she wanted, whenever she wanted it. He was her life, her being, her everything. And he was now gone, torn away by the wretched animal-drinkers that they went to join now.

Irina couldn't control her rage towards them at all. They hadn't explained it to her at all, except that he had strayed from the path as well as tried to kill one of their members. She had also heard that the stupid then-human had been deep in the forest at the time. Why wouldn't he hunt her? She was alone, there was no one to claim her. Technically speaking, she was prey for anyone or anything; it just happened to be Laurent, before he could lighten his eyes. She had seen that they were not solely animal-drinkers. It was a threat to their way of life, a possibility of revealing themselves to the others, a possibility of dying by the Italians' hands. That couldn't happen.

But that was the past. She had to go and collect information, maybe even send a missive back to Italy. Wouldn't that be interesting; giving the government more information rather than keeping it a secret alongside the figures she hated more than life itself? And oddly, poetically just. She wanted to be as fair as possible, no matter how brutal she turned out.

It could have been almost winter, the way that the temperature was dropping. The air around her had turned slightly chillier. Autumn was just beginning, though. The leaves were falling down lightly, all ablaze with shades of orange, crimson, gold, brown, but most of the trees kept their green crowns on for as long as possible. It looked like the flames that she would perish under, one day.

Only her sisters and somewhat-sister and somewhat-brother kept her alive, now. Their love and worry for her well-being kept her going whenever she felt the need to set herself on fire.

She leaped from tree to tree, feeling her hair stream out behind her as she did so. She felt so light, so free now. Maybe it was all for the best.

She heard giggling and turned, carefully falling out of the tree's boughs. She thought that it might be that Alice girl, or maybe another guest. She saw a brunette girl, her exposed skin sparkling in the sun shamelessly. She saw a large, russet-colored canine. She saw a little girl, dancing and playing in the leaves. The girl's skin glowed in the light. She was obviously not mortal.

Was this what Carlisle wanted to talk over with them? An immortal child? Or as close to one as you could get?

Irina looked closer. The little girl had brown eyes. They were the color of a rich chocolate; she wasn't a vampire either. Perhaps the Italians knew what she was. The canine creature (she decided with half of a thought that The teenager girl had gold-ish red eyes. She must be the new recruit, the one that got her Laurent killed.

Irina couldn't help but growl at the thought, her golden eyes darkening ever so slightly.

She saw the dog and the teenager whip their heads around towards her at the threatening sound.

_Shit._

Irina ran east. She didn't make any concrete decisions, knowing that Alice was always watching.

But she knew what she was to do, and how she was to do it.

This would be the last time that she would ever do something again. Might as well be noble about it.

* * *

Irina shivered self-consciously. The human secretary had seen her, started slightly, and immediately called a guard to her side. An Asian male with a white cloak had showed up the next millisecond, glanced at Irina up and down, and took her to the heart of the Castle without a single word. Was he a mind reader? How did he know about what she wanted or needed? No matter how much Eleazar had stressed that the Volturi tried to accommodate everything that the vampiric race needed, it was still unnerving to see how well-oiled their guards acted.

The guard glanced backwards and saw Irina's nervous jerk. He shivered empathetically.

"It's not as lifeless in here as people make it sound," he said in a quiet voice, one that sounded more melodious and melancholy than any other voice, human or vampire. Irina nodded to him stiffly, not sure how to respond.

"You can calm down, you know," he said, sounding more amused than depressed now. One corner of his mouth quirked up in a somehow genuine grin. How did he do that with so small a section of his mouth? Irina felt herself calm down, almost against her will, at this man's words. They reminded her of Laurent's, almost. Almost. His were always the smoothest words she ever heard. He was her best friend, the one that knew almost exactly what she was thinking at any time, the one that loved her most and knew her best.

They walked on in silence.

The guard, who had introduced himself as Damian on the way over, stopped in front of ornate doors, looked at her one more time, and knocked three times. Immediately, the doors were opened and a mahogany-haired woman appeared on the other side. Her crimson eyes darted across their faces and she said something in another language, some eastern tongue, that Damian nodded at and responded in like. The only word that Irina caught was her own name, somehow. The mahogany-haired guard grimaced slightly before opening the door wider. Damian bowed slightly, gently pushed Irina through the doorway, and then walked in behind her as the other guard closed the door.

The kings were seated in their respective spots, with who Irina thought was Aro in front, Caius behind him to his left, and Marcus parallel to Caius but to Aro's right. They all looked at her all at once with piercing red eyes and skin that sparkled slightly in the dim light of the Castle.

Aro stood up and walked to Irina. When he stood only three feet in front of her, he bowed slightly.

"Welcome to our abode, Irina of departed Sasha's coven," he said respectfully. Irina blinked. She hadn't expected such a respect.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"As glad as we are that you still live, I must ask, why have you come here? Last we heard, you and your sisters were happy in Alaska."

Irina bit her lip, glanced about warily, and held out a tremulous hand.

Aro looked taken aback and only hesitantly took her hand after a second of pause. His mind was immediately flooded with images of a dark-skinned, dazzling vampire with red, twinkling eyes and a slight Creole accent. He was filled with the utter devotion that the man had shown Irina, and he heard a name ecstatically breathed out by a breathless Irina: _"Laurent."_ He saw how the man had first kissed Irina's hand, then her cheek, then her lips as he expressed his sorrow of having to leave already. He had decided to go check on Carlisle for the Denali coven, apparently. And he had never returned. Carlisle never explained why.

Aro felt Irina's emptiness, her incapability to live if not for her strong bond with her sisters. He felt her depression, her rage at seeing the human-turned-newborn who was apparently to blame for her mate's death. She was blinded by anger at seeing the girl. Irina also noted the girl, one that was obviously not a human and not a vampire, but not as much as she noticed the newborn. The girl sickened Irina. She very obviously hated this other girl.

Aro drew back briefly before embracing Irina gently. Irina stiffened, not expecting the hug, but her facade cracked, her levies were torn down, and she let out her first true wail of anguish at losing her mate. Marcus felt the blow as she accepted his death; the bond that connected them shattered, lashing back towards the poor girl as she sobbed tearlessly, tearing at her hair, her arms, her neck, anything she could grab. Caius felt the anger well up within her and dissipate in one moment of catharsis. Damian and Isabella exchanged a glance from behind her before quietly leaving the room to give the girl and the kings more privacy.

"You have suffered too much. First a mother, then a lover. Only your family remains, but they will understand if you choose to die by your own hand," Aro murmured, drawing back. Irina's eyes glistened as the venom welled in her eyes without falling, but she nodded briefly and blinked the venom back.

"I wish to join him as soon as I can, but I want to do some good for the world first. I have survived without him for God knows how long already. I can wait a few more weeks before burning," Irina hiccupped.

"So be it," Marcus spoke up, standing with his brother. Caius flashed them a look of exasperation before joining them a second later.

"You will be taken with us to Washington when it comes time to hold trial," Aro said quietly. "We will tell them that you came with information. We will say that you asked for death. We will say that there is nothing they can do to change our decision. And we will set you aflame, and you will join your beloved in whatever afterlife there is."

Irina nodded at his words. "That's all I ask for," she managed to say.

* * *

The man grimaced at the words on the letter. A call for help from his old friend in the States. He had gotten another letter, that one from the governmental officials in Italy. He had read through that one, too, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to obey. He knew that it might result in his death, but if his friends were saved, it could be worth it.

He was preparing to leave Tokyo, tossing all necessary objects into a suitcase as he searched for his phone.

"Hello there, Toshiro," a voice purred from behind him just as he found the device and was about to press the button to call his friends. The vampire froze.

"Yes, hello," he responded through gritted teeth, turning to lock eyes with the almost-blonde vampire standing in his window.

She glanced around his little apartment. "Going somewhere?" she asked coldly, taking in the seemingly ransacked drawers that were flung open and the general disorganization of the entire space.

"I didn't think that the government cared so much about each individual member of its populations," Toshiro shot back, running his tongue over his upper lip nervously and glancing behind the girl to see if he could escape, maybe by pushing past her.

"Don't bother," she purred, knowing exactly what he was planning. He saw her arm shift ever so slightly. Immediately, a thick white smoke flowed from around her and fashioned itself into two hands as it reached towards him. One hand aimed for Toshiro's midsection, the other for his face. He ducked and wove through the tendrils, not letting them touch him. He nearly escaped them, too.

He threw open the back door and jumped the seven stories down from the top of the building, taking off into an alley running. He heard his own loud, ragged, hopefully human-like breathing as he frantically scouted for places. He heard two small bodies land behind him and not move, not even shuffling their feet. The fog didn't come back. He let himself think that maybe, just _maybe_, he had escaped the twins, that he might have some chance.

That was before two more guards landed in front of him with louder thuds, giving him emotionless stares. One was the tracker, one of the twins' mates. The other was the large one that they were usually with. Of course. They looked at him balefully before glancing behind him, as though waiting for a command.

"That's rude," a new feminine voice said from behind the Japanese nomad. Toshiro felt his insides grow cold. It was over; he was officially doomed.

For the guards had come with their usual leader, a girl who appeared seventeen but had intelligence and knowledge that extended far past her apparent years. She didn't ever fight alongside her companions, but she really didn't have to. Her calculating mind and careful tactics were what made her well-known and feared. That she was there meant that he was to be caught and questioned, nothing else. There was no longer hope for his escape to Carlisle.

Toshiro blindly ran towards one vampire, the tracker, trying to fight him, maybe eliminate their chances of finding him again, but the man just pushed him away towards the other large guard and dusted off his cloak fussily. The large guard rolled his eyes at his companion and snatched Toshiro's throat, holding him up against the wall.

The older female flicked a wrist; immediately, white tendrils stretched out towards Toshiro, gripping his ankles firmly and cutting off his ability to walk. He felt himself become helpless as he struggled against the miasma that wove itself up his leg.

"Alec, stand down," yet another voice said. As promised, the fog quickly dissipated. Aro himself walked out from behind a corner, along with his brothers. The king walked directly up to Toshiro and grabbed a hand without even asking him for permission. Toshiro felt his feeling return to his legs slowly, but not quickly enough for him to manufacture an escape.

"Brothers, this one planned to commit treason. He wished to inform the family that we go to question about our change of plans and our timing. What could we ever do to him to teach him never to do that again?"

"Treason must be punished," Caius snarled, "by death. As is our law. As has been decreed. As will be done."

Toshiro struggled even more. Another wrist flick from the older female, and then Toshiro was wracked with agonizing pain from the other twin. His life was over, and they all knew it. They were toying with him now.

"As has been decreed. As will be done," the other brother echoed. Aro nodded.

"We are in agreement. It will be done," the dark-haired king repeated again.

Toshiro closed his eyes in resignation as he felt the first tug on his neck.

* * *

"Now that the nomads know, it'll only be time before the Cullens connect the dots," Aro was muttering as they ran back to Volterra.

Jane, Alec, and Isabella exchanged an exasperated glance. Didn't he realize that they all _knew that_? It was kind of obvious.

"We'll have to lay out the real bait for the future-seer they've got," Caius added in, picking up on their disbelief. "We've made a vague decision, but she's probably looking more carefully now."

Aro nodded in agreement, and Isabella slowly drew her shield away from his mind, just enough for him to definitively choose to go to Washington on the winter solstice. She quickly blocked him again and let out a slight breath to signal to Aro that she had protected his mind again.

"We leave the day before the equinox. That gives us thirteen days. Get ready. We may have to promote a few guards to ensure that we have enough fighters to startle them."

The kings continued to talk quietly, weighing the pros and cons of each lesser guard to choose a few of them to make into elite guards.

The five guards already with them walked on in silence, not entering the conversation, just listening.

* * *

Alice was rearranging the furniture in the room again when she felt the image flicker into her mind. A mass of black and grey walking across the snow, machine-like in movement. Their cloaks swayed in the wind, their eyes pinpricks of blood, tiny and red amongst the lack of color.

Their eyes shone with identical lifelessness, all following the three figures in the very front, their heads raised high. Their faces showed boredom, excitement, and impatience, from left to right. Though they were not wearing crowns, they might as well have. Their very posture was regal, from the way they stood to the way they held themselves.

The Volturi were coming for them.

Alice shuddered and gasped, clinging to herself and trying to repress her body's spasms. She had dropped the glass table she had been dragging across the room; its legs fell onto the ground with a loud crash and its surface cracked. She leaned against the table, grabbing the edge with all of her strength and feeling it shatter under the pressure, and tried to get herself to stop panicking.

The _Volturi_ were coming for them.

The Volturi were _coming_ for them.

The Volturi were coming for _them_.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,_ she chanted in her mind, her thoughts whirling. _See the dog go what do we do what about Renesmee or Nessie or whatever the fuck she calls herself now what do we do why does this always happen to us what do I do about Kristen will she be safe will she be hurt God I hope not-_

"Alice," Edward said sharply from upstairs.

"They're coming, Edward, so shut the fuck up and let me freak out!" Alice snapped back, gripping her head with a handful of glass shards. She shrieked once, wordlessly, letting all of her pent-up emotion escape from her with one gust of air.

Kristen had run downstairs upon hearing that unworldly cry. Seeing the damage that Alice had wrought onto the poor table, the newborn flung her arms around Alice and held the short-haired vampire as she shrieked and sobbed. They had spent so long piecing a life together, and now the Volturi were coming to tear it apart.

Fuck the world.

* * *

Renesmee was growing older and wiser every day. The Cullens hoped beyond hope that that would be enough to dissuade the Volturi. They thought that they were to be punished for creating an immortal child, the way that Sasha had so long ago. But Renesmee was growing every day, though she still hated her name and only marginally preferred Jacob and Lizzie over the others in the Cullen coven. She had grown so much over the few weeks since her birth. She appeared somewhere between five to seven years old. She was really more like five to seven weeks old. Carlisle hoped that was enough to convince the Italian coven to turn around and leave.

If they only knew that the only newborn that the Volturi cared about hadn't been a baby for almost eighteen years.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! And for those of you who want to initiate a count-down, there are three-ish chapters until Isabella's fabled mate, the one you've been asking for, appears!**

**~Shriayle**


	51. Syzygy: Blinded By Shadows

**ALERT ALERT WE'VE REACHED THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS OMG THANK YOU ALL FOR READING THIS SILLY LITTLE STORY THAT I STARTED HOPING FOR LIKE 100 REVIEWS BY THE TIME I ENDED THANK YOU ALL**

**I'm trying out the 'updating every other day' thing. Is it working?**

**D'you know what would be cool? If each arc had its own trailer. I should do that. Unless someone else is really good at editing videos, since I'm kind of bad at it. It would be an interesting project, and I'd definitely link to it in my profile. Hmm.**

**REPLIES:**

**Guest (1): Hehe~**

**YunaNeko: Thanks again!**

**Nyaaaaaaah: It's always hard to remember how many a's are in your name xD also wheeeeeeee**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Indeed! And these last few chapters will be filled with all of the action that I need to set up until then.**

**Guest (2): Thanks! Also, ask and ye shall receive.**

**I am the Story Teller: Hello again! Your one question will be answered by the time this entire story is finished, so just be patient, please! Since there are only five chapters after this one, I can assure you that almost every question ever asked will be answered by then. Thanks for your lovely compliment :D I have many stories planned next, from budding ideas to complete plotlines, and I will start my next story early in January. It will be a Percy Jackson story, but not like any in the archives. I can promise you that :) I'm currently almost completely out of Twilight ideas, though I might write a story far in the future based off of the cliche 'Bella goes to Volterra in New Moon and stays there', though I'm not sure yet. It won't be for a while; I've got at least three more full-length stories planned after TLoaP ends! And I will try to stay awesome, yes!**

**Maiannaise: T-2 chapters now :3**

**I am in Loki's Army: I'm not too upset about the curiosity, but it is getting faintly ridiculous, I must agree. Only a little longer to wait, though, sorry~ I always liked the idea of the Denalis, though I didn't really like their characterization. Why was Tanya always defined by her 'jealousy' of Bella? I feel like she just liked to play around with Edward, anyhow. That's her deal in this story too, though I didn't get a chance to show it; she likes messing with his prudish mind. Thanks!**

**Arabella Whitlock: Eek back at ya! Carlisle's kind of like the stereotypical somewhat white-supremist racist of vampires in this story, but he does come from a good place. The Volturi just hate him, and that's the main filter you look through to see him.**

**BadAssTwilightGirls: Here you go, then.**

**Happy. Death. Executioner: I needed to make some valid excuse for Irina's death, right? And you can see just how important Isabella's mate is in this story (AKA literally not at all xD)**

* * *

A surprised Gianna, who was still recovering from her transformation only a few days prior, greeted the two visitors again before calling in the guard blessed with speed. The latter zoomed down the halls, screeching to a halt with a surprised look on her face upon seeing the newcomers.

"We didn't expect you back any time soon," Lilianna chattered as she guided the two darker skinned visitors down the hallways.

Huilen and Nahuel had decided to come back to Volterra. They had heard whispers of a short-haired vampire with caramel-colored eyes who sent a letter asking around for Nahuel's kind, asking even the Amazonians. Apparently the girl wanted to talk to any hybrid she could find. Zafrina had shooed her away with a missive, told the two nomads, and advised them to go to Italy again and seek asylum from the crazed golden-eyes.

"They were getting too close to home," Huilen said quietly, her eyes darting around. She quickly assessed the danger of every situation, analyzing possible escape routes, as she had always done. Nahuel noticed her jerky actions and calculations and put his hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. It worked; he released enough peace to settle her, allowing her mind to stop racing and her to focus on the situation at hand.

Lilianna hummed to herself. "Well, we'll take you to your old rooms; they haven't really been touched. If there's any dust, let any passing guard know and we'll get it cleaned up for you. Can't imagine that there'll be too much, though."

"Thank you," Nahuel said formally, nodding to Lilianna before opening the door. Huilen walked over to her door and entered it without a fuss.

It hadn't been more than a couple weeks since he stayed at the room last, but dust had already settled everywhere. It was surprisingly thick; the carpet looked covered in a fine white powder.

_I might take Lilianna's offer up_, he mused, laughing to himself. He backed up and out of the door and looked around briefly before seeing a guard with the hood of its grey cloak up, covering up its face. He couldn't even tell what gender the guard was. _Well, any passing guard, right? _He approached the hooded figure with a little trepidation, noting that whoever it was didn't notice him.

Nahuel nudged the guard. Startled, the figure looked up, and her hood fell back, exposing long, wavy dark brown locks of hair and bright, glowing red eyes. Nahuel was startled into silence as he stared into this girl's eyes. He could feel himself losing who he was as he looked at her.

She blinked a couple of times, clearly just as dazzled as he was, and cleared her throat neatly. "Yes, may I help you?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. She immediately looked irritated, cleared her throat again, and actually audibly coughed before saying, "Sorry, I sound like death," in a more lilting tone.

"Death sounds rather beautiful, then," Nahuel said without thinking. The guard froze again, her eyes wide open at his careless statement. Nahuel silently beat himself up over the slip-up.

"Um, thank you," she stammered out, "was there anything else I could help you with?"

"Uh, actually, yeah, one more thing. My things are covered with stuff; do you mind helping me clear it away?" His _oh so _eloquent words stumbled out as he tried to regain himself.

Nahuel didn't understand why the girl immediately raised an eyebrow and suppressed a slight snicker at his words. He didn't make a joke or anything. At least, he didn't think he did. English was a most difficult language to master. Why couldn't everyone just speak in Portuguese?

"Ah, um, which 'things' are covered with what 'stuff'?" the guard said in between her snickers, eyes glowing with mirth this time.

"My objects. My belongings. My things," he said, not sure what the guard was getting at. "They're covered in this white dust. It's everywhere in my room. I need help cleaning it up."

The guard actually laughed out loud this time, her eyes tearing up from the force of her laughter. She gripped her sides and wiped at her face, trying to control herself.

"Sorry, sorry," she rambled, "I just didn't think-um, I mean-I'm not really sure if-that is-"

"What are you talking about?" Nahuel asked, feeling slightly irritated that he didn't know what this girl was talking about.

The guard finally regained control over herself. "So, you need help cleaning white stuff off of your things?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, still suppressing some laughter at saying the words.

Nahuel finally realized why she was laughing and abruptly slapped his forehead. "_That's_ what was so funny to you?" he asked, his hand still on his face.

She smirked at him crookedly. "Sorry, sorry, that's what you get for growing up with an older brother, right?" She held out a hand, offering him some escape from his embarrassment. "Lenna, by the way. Lower guard."

Nahuel took the proffered hand and lightly shook it. He felt the tiniest of sparks from her somewhat cold hand. "Nahuel. Dhampir from Brazil."

"Pleasure to meet you, Nahuel from Brazil," Lenna said innocently. "Now, let's go clean your things of white stuff."

Nahuel groaned again before following the girl into the room. "I'm never going to live that down if it gets around."

"Trust me, it will," she responded cheerfully. "I'll be the one to send it around."

"You better not," he growled at her playfully, shooting her a dark look. She smirked again and saucily tossed her hair over a shoulder.

"Well, what if I want to, Nahuel from Brazil?" she asked, pronouncing his homeland as though it were some sort of extravagant title. "What will you do to me?"

It was Nahuel's turn to give a smirk. Lenna felt her core jolt; what the hell was going on? He just gave her a sneaky look... one that was a bit more attractive than she was willing to admit.

"I'll just have to send around some news of my own," Nahuel said in a whisper. Lenna shivered.

"What would that be, Nahuel from Brazil?" she asked, unable to meet his eyes.

"That you're helping me clean up the white stuff on my things in my room," he said with a chortle.

With that last sentence, the tension of the moment faded and they laughed with each other again.

* * *

It was a solemn night later that day. As soon as the sun went down, Aro, Caius, and Marcus sent for all of the guards to gather in the throne room. Even the queens were to be there, which confounded Isabella. The queens were almost never involved in Castle politics of their own volition.

The other guards had just as much idea why they were there. Everyone was chattering to themselves, white cloaks mingling with black cloaks and grey cloaks. To be fair, defining them by one set shade was difficult; Felix had a lighter 'black' cloak, for example, and Lenna's grey cloak was a bit darker than Afton's. There were shades of different colors, with just enough distinction between the lower and elite guards' cloaks to make the difference, a difference that mortals would most likely not notice.

Isabella glanced around to see who was there. Alec and Jane were right next to her, clinging to one of her arms each, and their mates, Renata and Demetri respectively, were right beside them, just as nervous. Lilianna was talking to the visitors in the back (they had been invited as well, seeing as they were in the Castle and why not), Corin helping to explain a couple of extra things while Santiago watched. John was looking around with an impish look, as if waiting to unleash some new prank. Reina kept an eye on the shifter nervously. Bree was standing with Didyme, Athenodora, and Sulpicia, though it was rather obvious that the queen had called the skittish newborn over as Bree's eyes were darting about the room, as if trying to seek cover from the maternal vampire. Chelsea and Afton were just sitting against the wall quietly. Heidi and Felix were flirting with each other by the entrance, smirking and laughing at each other's childish antics. Damian had a recently changed Gianna on his back and the two of them were giggling about something or another. Maisie and Jasper were near the center and close-ish to Bree and they were playing some truth game to help Maisie calm down. Aaron was holding onto Jamie, who was pouting as he tried to slip away to talk to someone else. No one was absent. Isabella caught Marcus's eye and nodded slightly, signaling that everyone was there. The king nodded back and said something to Aro, who straightened out.

"Silence," he called out. Even though he didn't shout, every guard and protected heard him and hushed immediately.

"The Cullens have broken the law. Their first-changed promised to change the human two months before he actually did. For that, he must be punished," Aro said. The formal declaration of trial had been stated.

The guards remained silent except for the occasional snarl or growl.

"The others are not to be touched."

"What?!" Jane screeched. "They defended him. That's treason!" Other voices raised to show their agreement, but quickly quieted down when Caius raised a hand and glared at them all.

"Listen before judging," he warned, lowering his hand and gesturing for Aro to continue.

"We are going to try him for exposing a human to the knowledge. No one is being tried on treason; believe me, the entire coven would be eradicated if we were trying on treason. From what I know, their clairvoyant showed him what would happen if he continued on his conquest, the blonde female tried to convince him otherwise, and the larger one ignored the entire situation, only getting involved when he pitied the girl. Carlisle and his mate are not to be forgotten, but the female merely tried to get the girl acquainted once she knew. Carlisle just allowed her to sink deeper, something that needs to be addressed as well. Their first-changed was the one to introduce her to our world, something that no human should witness. He showed off his strength, his speed, his gifts. For that, he is to be punished." Aro cast his gaze over the gathered vampires as he finished speaking.

"And if they fight back, Aro?" Felix rumbled, his eyes darkening in anger. Others growled at the implication that they would be so back-stabbing, but it was also a curious growl. Yes, what would the kings command then?

"Then we fight. But we punish only the first-changed. Is that clear?" Caius said in response, his face an impassive mask.

"Are we allowed to incapacitate?" Lenna asked, letting one of her sparks dart back and forth between her fingers.

"Yes. No maiming, no death. Those are our rules. We shall abide by them," Marcus said in response.

The guards stood, silent and waiting for their dismissal.

"Now, this debriefing, though convenient, wasn't the true reason why we called you here. We are here to give some of you a higher status in their eyes."

The guards started at Caius's words, and the whispering began. Who was to be promoted? Why? Was it for their protection?

"Remember, this does not raise your standing with us," Caius continued, his voice taking on a warning tone. "You are the same, no matter if lower or elite. We value the lower guards as much as the elite. This only raises your standing to other, non-Volturi. In this situation, a couple of you need to have that extra influence.

"John, Heidi, Lenna, come forth and accept your darker cloaks."

The three mentioned guards exchanged surprised looks at being chosen before rearranging their faces into blank expressions, looking forward to the kings, and walking in unison. The three kings each drifted forward to award the guards with their new cloaks. Jane, Alec, and Isabella had been called over to take their lighter cloaks from their shoulders, and the kings went to their respective guard-apprentice and draped the darker cloaks around the necks of the guards in front of them.

"Rise, new elite guards of the Volturi," the kings said in unison. John, Lenna, and Heidi stood together and turned as one, their new dark grey cloaks ruffling around their shoulders.

"We speak as one," the kings began, signaling the end of the meeting.

"_In veritate victoria_," everyone else bar Nahuel and Huilen responded. The sacred Volterran phrase spoken, the guards dissipated through the halls, back to whatever they were doing before the meeting.

* * *

"Is that how all of your meetings are?" Nahuel asked Lenna curiously. "Nice cloak, by the way."

"Thanks, hybrid," Lenna responded, trying on the hood. It still fit all of her hair, which pleased her. She flicked it off with an unconcerned finger, allowing her hair to tumble out again. "And sort of? The kings don't usually call large-scale meetings like that one, to be fair. It's usually just a bunch of messages being sent out from the Heart and dispersed to the Wings."

"Is that so? Everyone else is under the impression that the kings do what they wish and usually get what they want from their guards, from mistresses to spies to anything else. Some even say assassins."

"Well, they're more right on the second point than the first one," Lenna said with a chuckle. "The queens wouldn't let the kings live if they ever took on a mistress. They'd probably castrate them as well as cast them out of the Castle."

"Your royals are interesting," Nahuel said haltingly, hesitantly.

Lenna shrugged. "Makes life more interesting around here, I guess."

Nahuel hummed emotionlessly, somewhat deep in thought.

"Don't worry, little hybrid, I'd castrate you too," Lenna said, patting his shoulder and waltzing down the hallway.

Nahuel had no response, freezing as he stared after her dancing form. His heart began to race, thudding louder and louder, and she could definitely hear it. _He _could hear it, for crying out loud.

What the hell was _that_?

* * *

"Come on, Kristen," Kate said, trying to keep the impatience out of her throat. "Try again."

The brunette newborn angrily threaded her fingers through her hair again, trying and failing to relax. "Right. Just calm down. And try again," she muttered to herself.

Alice grimaced at the thought of having to experience Kate's electricity again. "As long as it's not Nessie," she said to Kate, holding out a reluctant hand.

Kate looked surprised at her dark statement. "Why on earth would I want to shock a child?!" the blonde snarled viciously, grabbing Alice's hand with an unnecessarily large amount of force and unconsciously sending what felt like at least fifty volts of electricity through Alice's small frame. The clairvoyant's eyes immediately stretched wide and she convulsed with a silent scream on her lips as Kate stonily held her up, sneering.

An enraged scream ripped itself hauntingly from Kristen's throat, and she immediately flung her hands out, concentrating on saving Alice, on helping Alice, on protecting her. Alice's spasms began to slowly die away and her cries turned to ragged gasps. Kate consciously raised the amount of voltage on her victim, and though Alice jerked slightly in surprise, she didn't threaten to fall to the ground. Kate turned the electricity onto full; Kristen showed signs of tiring.

"Well done, Kristen," Kate purred, releasing Alice and letting the small-statured vampire fall to the ground, still retching slightly.

"Fuck off, bitch," Kristen growled back, helping Alice up and walking into the house with her. "Are you okay, Alice?" Kate heard her say as she walked back.

Kate watched them go, a cat-like grin curving her lips upward. She laughed to herself, her giggles resembling those of a hyena.

"What is it, sister?" Tanya asked, appearing from behind a tree. She had to make some semblance of being upset that this newborn had taken away 'her Edward' (barf).

"Our ickle little cousin doesn't know what her heart really wants," Kate said, pointing at the receding figures of Kristen and Alice. Tanya's eyes slowly followed her sister's outstretched finger and her lips gradually took on a coy grin as well.

"Ah, I see, sister," she said, her canines glinting in the light as she smirked. "Well then, that's unfortunate, wouldn't you say?"

"Very," Kate said, following them back to the house.

* * *

Alice was worried. Her letters to the Amazonians had been answered with nothing more than a brief note: _"We know naught of what you speak. Sorry."_

But Carlisle had promised that the Amazonians had most definitely heard of the hybrids, that there was most likely one in the jungle. If Zafrina was unwilling to disclose that information, did that mean that she took part in the creation of hybrids? That would be bizarre; from what they could tell, only males could impregnate humans. Females couldn't be impregnated. Something about a changing body being necessary, as well as a functioning menstrual cycle.

She kept pondering the situation. What could she do? She could go to Brazil herself, maybe taking along one other person, to find an answer from the actual source. She tried to probe ahead with her foresight. She only caught haze, like the fog that surrounded Jacob.

She groaned to herself and pushed harder, more determined than ever to find the answer to this quandary.

* * *

"Isabella, my dear," Aro called out as the brunette guard passed.

"Aro, my dear," she mimicked, making her voice sound as vicious as possible. Caius, who was standing nearby, chuckled at the venom in her voice. She still hated the pet names, it seemed.

Aro rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Anyhow, I think it's about time for the Olympia coven to know our plans. We have all of the preparations possible about this; we even have another dhampir with us to prove our point, when necessary. They need to know; they deserve some time before we show up."

"Of course, Aro," Isabella said, allowing the shield to drift away. "Feel free to decide now."

Aro closed his eyes and thought, _We go to Washington in a week_, as firmly as he could, setting the future in stone.

In another room, Reina, who was reading an not-translated copy of _The Odyssey_, felt fate shift and set itself towards Washington. _It is to be,_ she thought before turning the page in her book and reading on.

* * *

Alice jumped as her future-seeing gift brushed up against something. Cautiously, she engulfed herself in it.

It was the same vision as before, but instead of snow, the Volturi walked forward, blank looks and sneers on their faces, through autumn leaves. The colors interlaced like the brightest, fiercest of flames. They looked vicious though every surface of their bodies sparkled in the light.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, no, no! _Alice felt herself begin to panic.

_One week. Not one season. One week. We're not going to make it._

"CARLISLE!" she called out, panicked. "I GOT THE TIME WRONG! WE'VE GOT A WEEK! CALL THE WITNESSES, PLEASE!"

She heard thumping, footsteps stomping down the staircase. Edward was at the foot of the stairs, his gaze burning a burnished gold.

"Why didn't I see your vision with you?" he demanded.

"Maybe it's Kristen, but I don't care right now!" Alice responded, just about pulling her hair out of her head. "WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"

"Calm down Alice, there's a logical explanation for this," Carlisle said, walking down the staircase that Edward had just sprinted down.

Kristen, Rosalie, and Emmett came in from outside; Esme was out of earshot, in the cottage she originally built for Edward and Kristen but now housed the Denalis.

"Alice? What happened? What's wrong?" Kristen asked, running over and staring at Alice's panicked expression.

"Everything! They're coming! I was wrong! My predictions weren't right!"

Kristen felt her core freeze within her. "What?" she asked, dazed.

"They're coming next week! Not in winter! Kristen, please, forgive me!"

"I don't blame you," Kristen said absently, thinking of Renesmee and wondering what to do, "but we need to think fast. I'll call Jacob; he and Lizzie took Renesmee out today. We need her back here as soon as possible."

"I'll start calling up some friends. Maybe Siobhan can imagine us surviving the encounter," Carlisle murmured, taking his phone out of his pocket and dialing numbers as quickly as possible.

"We'll go out and find as many nomads as possible," Rosalie volunteered with Emmett. They looked at Kristen worriedly. "Maybe Garrett is in the vicinity of Washington."

"Go, get him then," Edward growled, thinking about how to save his daughter. His daughter. The real reason behind this. _Maybe I should have worn that condom._

They left the house without acknowledging him, heading directly for Seattle.

"Alice, how can we do this? I barely have control over my powers now! How far can I get in a week?" Kristen asked desperately.

"I don't know, Kristen," Alice whispered back, hugging a pillow to herself so fiercely that feathers began to slip out of the pillow as though it were sweating. "I just don't know."

Kristen quickly unlocked her phone and swept through her contacts until she found Jacob's contact info (labeled as 'The Living Heating Device"). She dialed the number and bit her lip, waiting agonizingly long seconds for her best friend to pick up.

Alice was already upstairs, having thrown the pillow across the room in her haste to get something. She came back down, holding what looked like passports and papers in her hands.

"I got these made a while ago, thinking that they could be helpful," she explained briefly. "They're passports and things like that for Jacob, Lizzie, and Renesmee. With any luck, we can get them to Rio de Janeiro and maybe even to the hybrids there to protect Nessie."

"Renesmee," Kristen corrected instinctively, her core seizing up as she heard Jacob pick up.

"Jake, get Renesmee back here now!" she said, effectively cutting off his greeting. "We've got an emergency! Code red, or whatever it is you call it. We need you guys back as soon as shifterly possible!" (Jacob had made a huge fuss the first time Kristen said 'humanly').

_"Alright, Kris, but you better have some explanations ready for us,"_ Jacob replied before hanging up. Ten minutes later, Edward's Aston Martin screeched to a halt in front of the house and Jacob, Lizzie, and Renesmee ran out.

"Lizzie, take my car and go home," Jacob said, shoving the keys at her and pushing her to the vehicle. She took them without a question and started the engine, pecking Jacob's cheek as she hurried away.

"What is this problem?" Jacob asked, hoisting Renesmee, who looked about six years old at this point, onto his shoulders as she happily squealed.

"Timing's bad. The government people-_vampires_ are coming next week. We need to keep Nessie here at all times," Alice said, holding out a large envelope to him. "If it all goes to shit, get Renesmee out of there as a wolf, grab Lizzie, and fly to Rio. We got you tickets, passports, everything you're going to need. There's a wad of cash and a couple of cards there too. Just get her out as soon as possible."

Jacob stared at her, confused, before taking the envelope slowly. "What?"

"We could die, Jake," Kristen said, her voice shaking. "We need to get Renesmee out of here if everything goes badly. Please, you're the only one I can trust with this."

Jacob bit his lip. "Look, I can get the packs to bring in some backup. Vampires coming here threatens the human population. It triggers the ancient laws."

"If you could, that would be great," Alice cut in through Kristen's protests. "We need all of the friends we can get."

Jacob nodded as he put a protesting Renesmee on the ground. "I'll tell them and convince them to come. They've got to, anyhow. Alpha's orders and all."

"Jacob, I cannot thank you enough for that," Kristen said, quickly hugging her best friend.

"You stink! Get off of me, popsicle," he teased, embracing her fully.

"Alice, can I have some blood?" Renesmee asked, tugging on the clairvoyant's coat.

"Of course," Alice said, ushering her to the kitchen.

* * *

**The Volterran phrase means, loosely, "victory lies with the truth". Nice motto for a primarily judicial government, I think.**

**Also yes, Lenna and Nahuel are a thing. Just FYI.**

**Thanks for reading! Review if you've got questions or comments!  
**

**~Shriayle**


	52. Syzygy: Into the Light

**HEY HEY IMPORTANT IMPORTANT HEY HEY**

**I'm not sure if you guys have heard of the 'Storytellers' project that some people have set up to involve more female screenplay writers into the overall spectrum of movie-making. WELL if you haven't, basically, any girl over the age of 13 is given free rein over a Twilight character and asked to develop a backstory for that specific character. As I'm not really into the canon-Twilightverse, I never thought about entering. BUT one of my lovely friends is a budding writer, and she has entered, and now her screenplay is among 40 finalists. EXCITING EXCITING. Why am I mentioning this? Well, it happens to be public voting time! Voting ends December 31, and you do need an account on the website, but I promise you that it only asks for a name and an email address, and the name doesn't even have to be your real name. Her screenplay is about Carlisle at the Volturi and it's called Arrivederci. From what I can tell, she's a lot more merciful to Carlisle than I seem to be! So go vote on tongal (it's a dot-com website) /twilight and I'll love you forever and ever :D**

**If you do this, then I'll come up with some incentive for you. But please, just do it because my friend is an amazing writer who needs this opportunity.**

**I'm rather curious. Are you 80 or so followers-who-did-not-favorite of this story waiting until it's over to decide whether to favorite it or not? That's how I operate, personally.**

**REPLIES:**

**I am in Loki's Army: whoooo I wanted to make their relationship more like a 'friends turn into more than friends' but hella quicker, if you get what I mean. Lenna's gift makes it so that her being promoted kind of makes sense (I'm planning on explaining the entire difference between the elites and the lower guards at a later date). And updates will be every other day until chapter 56, then whenever I can while I work on ATC.**

**Guest: You just have to wait two days ;)**

**Maiannaise: It's really difficult to come up with all of these different types of relationships, so thanks!**

**Arabella Whitlock: Thanks!**

**Lorindol Tinuviel: So many of my characters look similar, so it's a rather easy mistake to make xD Isabella's not the flirty type, really. When I usually define Isabella by her hair color, it's typically a reddish brown or mahogany, like in the cover, just because other female guards have dark brown hair too. This story is the beginning of a large chain of stories that I'm planning to write, so if you want to stick around for those, have fun with that. Also Latin is fun to play around with. I read that saying somewhere else, though I can't really remember where, and I just looked it up to make sure the meaning was correct (not on Google Translate though).**

**ClumsyReader: No because there is no Bella in this story.  
**

**YunaNeko: I'm not even going to answer your question, as I've stated the answer to it two chapters ago in an A/N.**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Ah, Edward, always making rash decisions and not listening, then realizing that foresight is 20/20. Typical.**

**lordmantis (Guest): I'm going to assume that you're telling me to take a break after this story is over. To be honest, I've practically written up all of the next few chapters already and I'm just spacing them out at this point. I'm already taking a massive break xD And the extras I've been planning, I've been working on for quite some time. So no hiatus really necessary. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Yule to everyone.  
**

**Alice Alessa: You haven't seen exciting yet :P Breaking Dawn was the one book I thought through much more completely than the others, to be honest, because there's so much other plot that I have to systemically take down and recreate based on the relationships I've established thus far. I tried to make my AU alternate in the sense that Isabella is moved and changed slightly, but that has ramifications everywhere, including Kristen's creation and Jasper's departure. It also shakes up canon relationships, unfortunately. I usually like staying canon (though this isn't the only story I've got where everything is messed up to hell). Backstories are also fun. On Laurent, I'm actually rather angry at myself over that, because I had a scene thought out for his demise-that I came up with as I was writing the _Eclipse_ storyline. Maybe one day, I'll rewrite a chapter to reinclude it, but for now, I have a scene that's around 500 words of why he died, what caused it, etc. Most other vampires wouldn't do what Toshiro did, to be honest; he was just most active on his, er, actions. So I know what happened, but you guys may never know. Heck, I could include it in the next few chapters, though it would be much clunkier. In fact, I might end up doing just that. Also the Volturi really like to mess with the Cullens, if it's not quite that obvious xD And one of the more exciting chapters will actually come exactly on Christmas Day, probably at noon PST. I didn't even plan that.**

* * *

Renesmee's home was overrun with vampires.

Yes, there were usually a lot of blood-drinkers in the house with her; she was born into that family. These were strangers, and she couldn't even rely on Jacob and Lizzie to take her away like she used to.

Every time someone new came, she was lifted up by the one that birthed her (she couldn't bring herself to think of the ignorant woman as her mother) and held next to the one that donated his sperm to make her. She felt no attraction to these two figures that claimed her as their own. She felt more of a connection to Jacob and Lizzie, or Rosalie and Emmett. At least they seemed to care that she existed.

She had only had to meet one other coven so far, but she heard that others were coming. It was enough having to deal with Carmen, though Tanya and Kate were pretty cool (she wanted Kate's gift with a passion). Eleazar was kind of weird, but still nice. She liked them more than her real family, which seemed much more dysfunctional. Too bad you couldn't choose your family. Oh wait, as an immortal, you could, just not if you were the child of an immortal. Ugh.

Her role was to giggle and touch everyone's perfect faces to show them her gift. It was fun enough, giving them weird images and seeing their resulting horror mixed with wonder, but the second that that stupid mind-reader guy saw the images, she was punished for them. It wasn't a violent punishment to anyone else but her: she had to eat human food. _Ick_. That made her start to behave as quickly as possible. Anything but the spaghetti. She hated spaghetti.

"Renesmee! Come here, please! Garrett has just arrived, and he needs to meet you!"

She hated her name. Ren-es-may? Her 'mother' told her that it was a combination of Esme's name and her other grandmother, a flighty woman named Renee. She didn't like that second legacy very much, and Esme's name was so out of date. Why did her mother, a teenager when pregnant, choose to blend names like a weirdo? Why didn't she just choose a simple, nice name? Like Nina or Lily or something. That would be much easier to say. Renesmee chose to call herself Nessie for that reason. Also because it annoyed her 'mother'. That was an added bonus.

Renesmee stifled a loud sigh as she walked over to where her 'mother' was. "Yes?" she asked, letting herself sound as innocent as she could persuade her voice to become. It was a careful craft; one wrong move and she would immediately be suspected by her 'father'. Thank god that her 'mother' shielded all of them from each other. It made it a lot easier to think her thoughts.

"Renesmee, this is Garrett," Edward said slowly, as if Renesmee was nothing more than some six-week old infant. Well, she kind of was, but that wasn't the point.

"Hi!" she squealed waving a hand excitedly. Barf.

"Hello there, little miss," Garrett said, saluting her. "You're causing your family a lot of trouble, aren't you?" His crimson eyes twinkled mischievously.

The red-eyed vampires seemed so much more vibrant than the golden-eyed ones she lived with. They were more human-like, which was ironic because they consumed humans for their sustenance.

She gave Garrett as innocent of a smile as she could, letting her eyes grow vacant as though she didn't understand him. She reached out a hand and patted his face, showing him what she saw at the moment of the 'hi' she had offered. Garrett's eyes grew wide and he leaned back slightly, shocked.

"Isn't she wonderful?" Edward said, sounding proud. His pride made Renesmee want to roll her eyes, but she stopped herself from doing it. She was with Rosalie far too much, she could tell.

"Yes, indeed, but not as wonderful at that bombshell I walked into a moment ago," Garrett responded with a wink.

"Kate?" Renesmee asked from Kristen's arms, her eyes wide. She started to swing her legs in excitement. "Do you like her? She is nice."

"Nice to you, maybe," Kristen mumbled. "Renesmee, please calm down a bit."

"Nessie," Renesmee corrected, holding her legs still reluctantly.

"Yes, Nessie," Kristen corrected herself absent-mindedly, beginning to bounce Renesmee in her arms.

Renesmee squealed and thrashed about again. "Not a baby!" she said, smacking Kristen's rock-hard arms. Kristen put her down and Renesmee ran off outside, most likely looking for Rosalie, Emmett, or Jacob.

"Exciting addition you've got there, Eddie," Garrett said with a bark of laughter.

"Please, don't call me that," Edward muttered, watching his daughter run off. She had an extraordinarily odd head of hair; it wasn't Kristen's brown or his bronze, but a reddish-brown that sometimes appeared black. He wondered why to himself, musing slightly. Her eye color was off too; it wasn't his green or Kristen's hazel, but a deep, rich brown.

Garrett saw Kate walk into the room and whistled loudly and appreciatively, walking over to her. She saw him and smiled coyly. Tanya, who had come in with her, rolled her eyes and walked over to Eleazar and Carmen.

"Hey, pretty lady," Garrett cooed, letting a slight smirk settle onto his face.

"From what I hear, you know my name now, mister," Kate said in a teasing manner, "so why don't you call me that, hmm?"

"Ooh, forthright, are you?" Garrett asked, playing with a strand of her hair. "I like that in a woman."

"Oh, do you?"

He laughed. "You little nymph, I'll get you soon,"

"Just get out of here and boink already!" Tanya called out. Kate glared at her.

"Child alert?" the blonde hissed to her sister.

"She's off gallivanting with that wolf again. But if you do want to go do the do, don't do it in my room at the cottage, hmm?" Tanya responded, smirking widely and leaning back into the sofa.

Edward cleared his throat uncomfortably. They glanced at him and sighed. He never loosened up for this kind of talk. Bother.

* * *

The next ones to arrive were the Cairene coven. Once, there were two other members, but now there were four permanent members: Amun, Tia, Benjamin, and Kebi. The first and last were mated, the middle two not.

"We were siblings in all but blood, believe it or not," Benjamin said with a broad smile when Kristen asked. His eyes were burgundy rather than blood-red, and they were almost comforting in tone. "Grew up together, laughed and joked. Never once thought about marrying each other. She doesn't swing that way, anyhow. I learned how to juggle fire, she learned how to pickpocket. We had a good life in the streets. Then, after I turned eighteen or something, this guy-" he poked Amun's arm good-naturedly "-decides that we'd be good members of his coven. Also I was dying of cholera and what not, and Tia refused to leave me alone, so he changed us."

"We stayed with him, though I think that made one other leave. I always wondered what became of her."

"Who, Len?" Tia nodded. "She's alright. I think. I hope."

Tia let out a quiet laugh. "She's strong enough to be alright, Ben."

"That she is," Benjamin responded with a chortle.

Renesmee was drawn to the Egyptians. They were interesting, and they had a darker skin tone that she kind of liked more than the porcelain white of the American vampires she had met so far. Benjamin in particular interested her; his eyes were so kind, and whenever he saw her, they seemed to light up. He talked to her as though she were a normal human being, too, not a child that was always underfoot. She liked the additional respect.

Amun, on principle, barely talked to anyone outside his own coven. He didn't like having deep connections with anyone outside of his ancient brethren and his covenmates. Kebi didn't take part in much conversation either, choosing instead to talk only to covenmates because that's who she was most comfortable with. Tia was soft-spoken to begin with, and she generally trailed after Benjamin, who looked after her like any good older brother.

Benjamin was the friendly member of the coven, always willing to talk, no matter how badly he thought of the other person. Amun had been privy to Benjamin's rants about how arrogant Carlisle could seem, saying that Benjamin would have better control over his gift if only he chose to forsake humans. Amun knew that Carlisle would try and play that card to snare Benjamin. He was proud that his covenmate resisted the urge to chew out the golden-eyed vampire then and there, merely frowning and shaking his head but nothing else.

Rosalie and Emmett were just as drawn to the coven as Renesmee was to Benjamin. They were an interesting family group, much more alive than the Cullens. Emmett began to teach Benjamin the art of hand-to-hand combat, assuming correctly that Benjamin had fine-tuned only his expertise of the elements and not his actual strength. Rosalie began to talk to Tia, letting the vampire open up even more to outsiders. Amun watched this development and approved of the changes he saw in his coven. Kebi merely watched, making sure that no harm came to them.

* * *

A nomad called Alistair arrived next. Twitchy, nervous Alistair, who barely talked to Carlisle and hid in the attic. He met Renesmee, acknowledged that she was indeed special, and asked if he could please not talk to anyone else at all _thank you very much_.

Renesmee thought he was kind of weird. He acted like a scared rabbit, always jerking about at sudden noises and whispering responses to any questions he was asked, flinching every time. Renesmee felt kind of sorry for him, but at the same time, he needed to get a grip or something in her opinion.

After him came the Amazonian coven. Three wild-looking women, whose bodies resembled those of spider monkeys, with complete control yet no control over their strength. Renesmee admired them, all women, all in love with each other in a bizarre kind of way. They were tender with each other, but at the same time like siblings. Their love seemed to transcend any label, from the way that Zafrina carried Senna on her back to how Kachiri liked to lie across the two others whenever they were sitting down. It was the kind of tenderness that Renesmee wished she had in her life.

When Alice asked them about the letter she sent weeks ago and received a half-hearted reply for, they glanced at each other furtively before Zafrina shrugged. "Must not have gotten it complete. Communication is always difficult in the jungle, after all," she said smoothly.

"I made sure to have it put it in the tree that you told us to," Alice persisted. "The branches, in a certain kind of plastic-y envelope so the rain doesn't wash it away. It's never failed before."

"Life is unpredictable, clairvoyant," Zafrina said with a low growl. "We received no letter like that which to describe. The only part we read was asking about 'hybrids', as you call them. Perhaps it was washed away, or taken by some sloth and eaten away partially. You never know, in the jungle."

Alice looked confrontational, but she gave up and just sighed. "I guess," she said reluctantly.

Zafrina nodded, going back to stroking Kachiri's hair. "What was it you mailed us about?"

"Those like Renesmee. Hybrids. If there were any in the jungle."

Zafrina refrained from saying the word 'dhampir'. If the Cullens knew of the classification, all of the Volturi's preparations would go to waste.

"We have heard some rumors," Zafrina said slowly. "We have never met one. We don't seek them out."

"Maybe you _would_ have if you got the stupid letter intact," Alice grumbled, pouting in her chair.

* * *

"We didn't expect you. We thought that the Irish would have come," Carlisle said haltingly.

Standing in front of him were two ancient vampires, so old that they had begun to wither away and petrify into dust.

"Ah, yes, the Irish. They died from an invasion, last I checked," a white-haired vampire said slyly, glancing over at his black-haired companion.

"An invasion, Stefan?" Carlisle demanded. "I didn't hear of this."

"Not many even in Europe did," the other responded in an oily voice. "They were not very social. Not many would have known them even when they were alive."

"I see, Vladimir," Carlisle murmured, leaning back. Those were three possible allies, all gone. Damn.

"But we are here, Carlisle," Stefan said, as though that made up for it.

"Yes, we are," Vladimir echoed. "We heard that you have to combat the Volturi. Naturally, we are here to witness their crumbling."

"We want to see them fall the way they watched our coven fall, all those millennia ago," Stefan growled.

"Yes, well," Carlisle said. "Hopefully, we won't have to fight."

"Carlisle, do you know the Italian coven that poorly? They will want a battle," Vladimir said confidently.

"You haven't gotten over Paula," Stefan said accusingly.

"And you, Ana," Vladimir snarled back. The two ancients glared at each other before looking to Carlisle simultaneously.

"We will kill them, no matter what their intention, Carlisle," Vladimir said in a more strained voice.

Carlisle swallowed slightly. "Well, the more allies we have, the better," the Olympia patriarch said hesitantly.

"Yes." the two Romanians said in unison. At that precise moment, Kristen walked in with Renesmee in her arms.

"This is my daughter, and the reason why we are to combat the Volturi on the morrow," she said quietly.

"Daughter? Carlisle, so naughty!"

"She isn't what she appears," the blond man said tersely.

"Ah, but we care not for that," Stefan purred out, stroking Renesmee's hair gently, not minding how the little girl seemed to shrink away from his grasp. "We will protect this precious one, no matter if she is an immortal one or not."

"Yes," Vladimir agreed.

* * *

Everyone bar the Cullens and the Romanians decided to meet in the cottage for a brief meeting.

Tanya glanced around. "Everyone is here, I hope?" she called out. The others grunted in response.

"Those of Cairene are here," Amun growled, looking around the room for his coven.

"I'm here, ain't I?" Garrett said with a wink to Kate, who rolled her eyes but couldn't keep her smirk in check.

"We have come," Zafrina said.

"Why did you call me here?" Alistair whimpered.

"We're about to get to that. Is it safe to assume that the Italians have sent us all one of these?" Kate asked, holding up her envelope. All of the other coven leaders and the nomads looked at each other before cautiously nodding, producing similar missives with the same, elegant script. Isabella must have been rather busy.

"So it isn't news to anyone that the Cullens are to be tried for failing to comply by Volterran law and changing the girl as soon as they could."

"It isn't," Zafrina said hesitantly in response to Kate. The nomads nodded silently. Amun gave Tanya a suspicious glance.

"What are we to do about it?" Amun demanded, shoving the letter back into his pocket.

"I'm going to assume that the V-Volturi are being trustworthy for once," Alistair said, stammering slightly. "So we can agree that th-they're probably only going to p-persecute Edward, maybe Carlisle. What will we do with the rest? The rest of O-Olympia coven has nothing to live for, if Carlisle were to pass. He's controlled their coven politics for too long."

"We'll have to take some of them in if Carlisle is to die," Eleazar said with a grimace.

"We could take in Rosalie and Emmett," Tia said quietly. "They already get along with us so well. I can imagine them in Egypt with us."

Amun nodded in agreement, and Kebi just hummed in indifference. Benjamin also nodded, looking distracted.

"Alice and Kristen could come with us," Tanya said hesitantly. "Temporarily. Alice does actually like us, and Kristen could learn to avoid Kate." The two women hadn't really gotten along since the training session gone wrong, though Kristen knew that Kate was easily angered at any attack on her honor.

"I guess," Kate muttered. Eleazar and Carmen had already agreed to let Tanya make any decisions necessary, so they leaned back in their shared chair.

"And Renesmee?" Benjamin asked, glancing at all of them, revealing what he had been pondering.

The resulting silence was long and awkward. Who would want to take in a potential threat to their coven or their safety? If she were suspected to be an immortal child, they would be killed on the spot.

"I mean, she seems to get along best with Rosalie and Emmett, so I guess we should take her in as well," Kebi spoke up hesitantly, staring at the ground as Amun draped his arm across her shoulders comfortingly.

Tanya nodded slightly. "That makes sense. Alice and Kristen sometimes seem to forget about her, as well. It's rather sad."

Benjamin let out a grunt as a response, and Tia patted his back in response. He felt a flicker of flame dart between a couple fingers in his hand and just stay there, setting his hands alight. It didn't really hurt to summon fire. It didn't affect him, which was nice. Fueled by anger, he realized. He waved the flames out without much thought, not noticing the sudden fear in many vampires' eyes.

He looked up at them. "What?" he asked acerbically.

"Th-that fire. Rather shocking, I guess," Garrett managed to say.

He glanced down at his hands. "Yeah," he mumbled, discreetly shoving them into his pockets.

The other vampires wisely chose to not ask him about his gift. He obviously didn't want to talk about it or draw attention to himself.

* * *

Tia winced at every tree that was set on fire, frozen from the inside out, blown over, overgrown by fungi. "Benjamin, that's more than enough."

The vampire turned to face her, his eyes wild with rage and grief. "That child. She isn't loved by her own parents. Her fucking parents don't hate her either; no, that would be too much emotion for the girl. They just ignore her every day. Every. Single. Day. She doesn't even think she has a family. She called me daddy today, did you know that Tia? She thinks that I'm her father, not Edwin or whatever the fuck his name is. What do you think I feel about that?" He whipped back around, flinging a handful of fire at another tree with a primal scream.

Tia gingerly stepped around the now burning oak and sighed. "Put it out, Ben."

He gave her a challenging glare, one that she met unflinchingly.

"Ben."

He kept staring. Finally, he sighed, raised a hand, filled it with water, and flicked it onto the tree.

"Happy?" he asked morosely, slumping to the ground and sitting in the damp soil. He mindlessly plucked a blade of grass out of the ground before watching it grow and wither away in his hand. He flicked the dead bit of plant away.

"Benjamin, I know you feel sorry for the girl. _I_ feel sorry for the girl. But we can't do anything about it until she becomes part of us, as Amun has allowed. You know that. Carlisle is too controlling for that to happen."

"I know, Tia," Benjamin said, shoving his face into his hands in despair. "That's what infuriates me. I can't do anything for her at all."

Tia patted his back twice before walking away from the carnage and returning to the house.

* * *

"Peter, Charlotte!" Jasper called out in joy, letting go of Maisie's hand to embrace his former covenmates.

Peter mock-saluted to him, a wide grin curving across his face. Charlotte was a bit more demure, settling for a warm smile and returning Jasper's hug.

"'Ey there, brother!" Peter crowed. "Gotta say, never expected ye in this kinda lux'ry." He gestured wildly about him. "Carpets, man? Wassat all about?"

"It's not much, Peter," Jasper retorted, smacking Peter's shoulder before he backed up slightly. His grey cloak had gotten slightly off, and he felt Maisie quietly rearrange it.

Charlotte noticed the slight movement. "Who's th' li'l lady there, Major? She seems t'be a cute 'un, I'll tell ya that."

"This is Maisie. She's my mate," Jasper said concisely, twirling the redhead around to look straight at Peter and Charlotte. She blinked in embarrassment.

Maisie was completely mortified at being in the center of this reunion. She didn't know these oddly speaking vampires at all, and they were so friendly to her mate. She felt that she should know them, at least by name, but she really didn't.

"Major, wassup with yer fancy high-phalooting lang'age? Yer from th' South, like us. When did ye go so civil-ah-zed and shit?"

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Peter, I'm living with the fucking government now. I have to learn how to talk a bit more proper, and it's kind of an unconscious thing now."

"Pity. Y' had a nice Southern acc'nt," Charlotte said with a shrug.

"Well, I can guess that you're not here just to say 'sup. What's got you here?" Jasper asked.

"What? We don't got no ulter'or motives or shit, whatya sayin'?"

"He's lying," Maisie said quietly before clasping her hands over her mouth and looking at them fearfully.

Peter and Charlotte stared at her for a second before laughing like hyenas.

"I lak her, Major!" Charlotte said in between her giggles. "Gotta strong one, there! Jus' needs more confidence!"

Maisie peeked out from between her fingers. Jasper wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his chest so she had a better hiding place, just in case.

"She's got a good instinct," Jasper said defensively. "So why are you here, then?"

"Got this bullshit lett'r from th' pansy-asses in Washin'ton," Peter said, waving a piece of paper at him. "Then they call'd us yes'erday. Didn't feel like seeing pixie-cheeks or none of them. Came here instead, to tell Aro about this piece of shit. Not much more than th't."

"He's not lyin' this time, li'l lady," Charlotte said gently. Maisie nodded without looking at her.

"Well then, I'll take you to the kings. Though if Caius learns you did this to his daughter, he might tear you guys a new one," Jasper said, gesturing down a hallway.

"Wait! We came here wi' o'ers, I'll have ye know," Peter said, gesturing at the two other figures that had been silently standing by. "Makenna and Charles, every'n. Nicest nomads I've ever met, 'sides us."

"Pleasure," Jasper called out. "Now, we're going to have to go talk to the kings before deciding anything, alright?" He glared at Peter jokingly at that. His former covenmate held up his hands, smirking slightly.

"Lead th' way, Jazz master," Peter joked, and five of the vampires laughed at the joke (Maisie's head was buried too deeply into Jasper's chest for anyone to hear her laughter). Jasper shook his head at his old friend's silliness before ushering the newcomers to the throne room to talk to the kings.

* * *

"It is time."

Everyone had been summoned to the throne room again. This time, there was no inane chatter, only dead silence. The guests had been given cloaks of grayish blue to designate that they were not Volturi guards or protected, but mere witnesses that left whenever they chose to.

Aro stepped forward. Caius and Marcus flanked him, with the three queens behind and Renata guarding them all.

"We leave for America tonight. Tomorrow, we try the Cullens for their incapability to obey our laws."

The guards all stood straighter at Aro's words.

"We speak as one." "_In veritate victoria."_

* * *

Alice crumpled within herself.

"Tomorrow. Our futures are decided tomorrow."

Kristen bit her lip. "We find out if we're dead or not so soon?"

"Unfortunately."

Kristen embraced Alice, inexplicably so. In the beginning, Alice had been so sharp and snappy with her. Now, the seer had mellowed out, but kept the sarcastic side that Kristen so loved.

Loved.

Could it be true? Could it be that she wasn't to have a husband, but a wife?

Alice froze at the new visions blossoming in her head. Kristen had chosen to accept that she loved Alice? What? The images showed them laughing together, hunting, in a cold place. They smiled at each other, bantered, hugged, _kissed_. This wasn't something that Alice expected, yet it felt so perfect, so natural.

The two females looked at each other hesitantly before obeying some inner primal instinct to come together as one.

* * *

**I changed Benjamin's age because I thought that a fifteen year old wouldn't be very responsible with the strength that wielding the freaking alchemic elements gives you. I felt that he needed to be more mature. Tia is still the same age (seventeen in appearance).**

**Also, yes, Alice/Kristen is a thing. It wasn't planned at all, as most things aren't. Buuuut I thought that it would work out. And I do like both of the characters, though torturing them is great fun as well.**

**Next chapter in two days! See you then.**

**IF YOU DIDN'T READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE THEN THIS IS THE ONE TIME THAT I WILL ASK YOU TO DO IT SO GO DO IT PLEASE. THIS IS PERTINENT TO MY LIFE SORT OF.**

**~Shriayle**


	53. Syzygy: Sunrise

**Some dialogue has been taken from _Breaking Dawn_ by Stephenie Meyer. To set these parts apart from the others, they have been bolded and italicized as I have done in the past.**

**AHHHHHHH THE MOMENT WE'VE (I MEAN YOU'VE) ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. If it's too subtle, I've included a note at the VERY BOTTOM so you don't spoil yourselves, along with an explanation why.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS LOVELIES.**

**Can I just say I love the entire selection of 'No one hates Twilight more than the actors' because it makes my day.**

**REPLIES:**

**Maiannaise: Which part? The Kristen/Alice thing? It was another spur-of-the-moment thing. I think the writers for Legend of Korra explained it best as you create the characters and the plot and the people you've created just kind of talk to you and say, ****_"No, it's supposed to happen like THIS!"_**** To be honest, Kristen was supposed to never find her mate as long as the story goes, but I felt bad for Alice still xD Also Bella doesn't have a mate as Bella is not in this story.**

**Christina (Guest): Hi hi! You read stories like I do xD Then again, I lurk on my phone and never review, so kudos. Reviewing in current is nice because I get to see up-to-date comments, I guess, but it's also fun to see how people speculated in the earlier chapters and how it's changed now. I always loved the Volturi, and they were just a bit too one-dimensional for me, so this is my interpretation. Everything that happens with the Volturi is in my own little head-canon, even in the current series. It's more fun. Thanks for reading :P**

**Fanfictionlover124: I didn't realize how many things had to be redone when I first started this story, jfc. I just thought 'maybe change mates around here' before I realized that intrinsic personality traits had to change and shift and AGH. And then there were other plot points I wanted to add (i.e. Jasper leaves the Cullens) so that was even more complicated...**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Oh really? :3**

**YunaNeko: (y)**

**Arabella Whitlock: Information OVERLOAD yep.**

**VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: If you're not into slash or queers, you've come to the wrong author's stories. We've already had Jamie/Aaron and Zafrina/Kachiri/Senna, so it's not like it's the first time I've brought in homosexual pairings.  
**

**Guest: :D**

**ClumsyReader: Again, Bella does not have a mate because she doesn't exist in this story. And I live to confuse.**

**death2luv (Guest): YOU HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART BECAUSE YOU ARE REVIEW #394 AND ALL HARRY POTTER FANS WILL APPRECIATE YOU. And seriously? I thought that was just me xD I imagined these next two chapters in dreams haha. I hope all of that detail gets captured and put in. AND FEELS ARE GOOD HEHE  
**

**I am in Loki's Army: I kinda really hope she gets this because she deserves this 10000000%. Also, I will be posting on Christmas too :D**

* * *

The Volturi guards had tried to fill their stomachs and quench their physical thirsts before leaving. Alec cast one final strand of his numbing on their throats as a precaution before the guards, kings, queens, and witnesses left the Castle, running east across the Pacific.

They landed on the beach in shifter territory; they could smell the wet dog scent on the air as they walked in. Isabella felt her lip curl as she and the others quickly vanished into the forest en masse in hopes of avoiding contact with the overgrown dogs.

Perhaps they were defending their territory alongside the Olympia coven, as they weren't questioned at all. No one seemed to see them as well; Isabella silently thanked Afton and his gift, as well as Jamie's impeccable scouting to find the path forward. The Volturi rearranged themselves to make a sort of gradient of cloaks, with the blue gray visitors trailing after them alongside the black-cloaked queens. The white-cloaked protected walked in front of the queens, then the grey-cloaked lesser guards, and finally the darker-cloaked elite guards, who stood around the kings. It wasn't too complicated a system; they didn't try to move together, and if there was a lower guard amongst the elite guards, no one really minded. It was the loosest of organizations made only to intimidate for their approach; they would spread out as soon as they stopped walking.

Isabella extended her shield over everyone and strengthened it with two additional layers of shields. They were one-way protections; Jane's gift could get through them to anyone outside the shield, but it wouldn't be able to come inside it. Isabella quickly checked to make sure that the twenty-odd vampires that had allied themselves with the Volturi, no matter how temporarily, were all protected. All twenty-something little glowing balls of souls lit themselves up as she ran her imaginary fingers over them. They were all there. They were all protected.

She made sure to make the shields as thin as possible around Aro's hands, in case he wanted to read someone's thoughts. Which was more than likely going to happen. His fingers became devoid of any shield so she didn't have to think about it any time afterwards.

"I hear them," Jane murmured to Isabella. Alec glanced over at his sister, bit his lip, and started to whisper something. Isabella thought it was some sort of prayer, most likely.

"Stand strong, you two," Isabella said to them quietly, not looking at them but opting to look ahead with a steely gaze. She felt them grab her arm, squeeze it, and then release it, signaling that they had heard her.

"We approach. Volterra, remain strong."

Caius's warning made the guards compress slightly for safety before dispersing amongst themselves. Damian left Gianna, who had been made a lower guard, to walk near the front, in case any surprise attacks happened. Jane, Isabella, and Alec walked directly behind the kings. The others began to reorient themselves; Demetri to Jane, Renata to Alec, Felix and Heidi right behind the siblings, the protected closest to the center. The colors were vaguely ranging from the darkest blacks in the center, by the triumvirate, to the lightest greys on the far sides.

They smelled the other vampires across the field as they approached, autumn leaves falling and sending cascades of fiery colored leaves on their hooded figures.

The triumvirate stopped walking. The guards halted with them.

In front of them were around twenty-two vampires standing in the clearing, their expressions from grim to terrified. One was holding a child that looked to be around six. This was the girl they thought they were being tried for. A male, the bronze-haired one, was standing next to the female that was holding the child. Isabella recognized Kristen in those features; maybe the girl was stupider than she thought, if she thought that Edward was still her one and only. The girl seemed proud of herself for whatever reason; Isabella curiously poked outward to find a rather flimsy mental shield in front of the vampires for at least ten feet. _That'll be fun to deal with later. _The newborn was wearing a gaudy pendant around her neck, one that she recognized as the sarcastic gift Aro sent. Perhaps they didn't think it a joke.

All around them were shifters. _That's why they're not in their territory_, Isabella mused. Thirteen strong wolves stood around the clearing at various intervals, ranging from grey to brown to even pitch black in one's case. A rusty brown wolf stood next to the vampiric couple, snarling slightly.

Isabella heard a rustle of feathers and noticed that a crow was flying in the sky above the clearing, circling around. It let out a throaty caw.

_Damn it, John_, she couldn't help but think, noticing the crow's golden eyes.

"The bonds have changed," Marcus whispered to the rest of the Volterran vampires unexpectedly. "Many dislike the bronze-haired male. The clairvoyant is now mated to the female next to the bronze-haired. The others have not allied with the Cullens; rather, they are more witnesses, though if it comes to a fight, they will fight us."

"Pity," Caius breathed back.

_**"Aro, my old friend,"**_ one called out, the blond patriarch. He stepped past his two creations, holding his hands out in a seemingly peaceful manner. The guards began to rumble at this statement; even calm Isabella couldn't suppress a low growl. How dare he try and claim a _friendship_ with the Volturi, after what he tried to do?

_**"Peace,"**_ Aro commanded, holding a hand out at them. The guards silenced, regaining control over themselves, but those who had crouched into defensive positions stayed that way. The only sound was the slight shifting of leaves beneath their feet.

_**"Fair words, Carlisle,"**_ the king said, his voice low and dangerous. _**"They seem out of place, considering the army you've assembled to kill me, and to kill my **_guards."

Carlisle tried to back away quickly, holding out his hand beseechingly. _**"You have but to touch my hand to know that was never my intent."**_

"Pathetic," Jane whispered, and the Volterran ranks quietly agreed with the statement. The opposing vampires seemed to not notice the noise.

_**"But how can your intent possibly matter**_, Carlisle, _**in the face of what you have done?" **_Caius spoke up this time, raising an eyebrow and looking all the more dangerous for it.

_**"I have not committed the crime you are here to punish me for,"**_ Carlisle tried again, his golden eyes betraying his panic and his hand held more rigidly, straight out towards the kings.

"How do you know which crime we are here to punish for?" Caius hissed. _**"So many pointless rules, so many unnecessary laws you create for yourself, Carlisle. How is it possible that you defend the breaking of one that truly matters?"  
**_

Carlisle stood firm. Isabella could at least grudgingly give him that.

_**"The law is not broken. If you would listen- "**_

Caius immediately cut him off. _**"We see the child, Carlisle. Do not treat us as fools."**_

_**"She is not an immortal. She is not a vampire. I can easily prove this with just a few moments - "**_

"What, the little girl there, in the child's arms?" Caius asked, gesturing towards Renesmee, who shrank into herself out of fear of the white-haired king. "We don't speak of the girl. We speak of the _child_. The child to our ways. Why did your coven not change her at the time we told you to?"

Carlisle's eyes widened in shock. Something was very wrong, completely misunderstood.

"Not only that, her remaining human has caused unimaginable grief amongst our own kind," Marcus said in a low voice, stepping forward to stand with his brothers.

"Come forth, Irina," Marcus called back. The golden-eyed vampire looked up, startled, before slowly lowering her blue-grey hood and walking forward. The vampires on the other side of the clearing could see the dead nature of her eyes, the way her hair hung limply, the sickly sheen on her skin.

"This is the child, with the creature with her that you saw?" Caius prompted gently.

"Y-yes," Irina stuttered out. Tanya wanted to cry and run forward and hug her sister after hearing that voice. Irina was a strong, confident woman. She had been reduced to this half-dead state.

Isabella materialized behind Irina and held her up slightly, her red eyes otherwise emotionless. Irina flashed her a grateful look, to which the mahogany-haired guard nodded.

"Those two. They're the ones. That one" -she pointed to the black-as-night wolf- "killed Laurent, with three others, including that one." She pointed to the rusty wolf in the front, who snarled slightly.

"They knew not of the mating bond," Aro said clearly, "for you failed to inform them. Sirs, mates cannot live without one another, much like your imprints. If a vampire's mate dies, then the vampire will set itself on fire and burn in agony to join them. There is no worse pain than being separated from your mate."

The wolf in the front seemed more hesitant in its body language, and its eyes looked horrified. As though it wouldn't have _killed_ Laurent if it had known.

This was just getting more and more damning for Carlisle and the rest of his coven.

"How do you know of imprints?" Kristen called out, surprised.

"We know more than you think, girl," Caius sneered at her.

"Peace, brother," Aro warned, holding out his arm.

Irina closed her eyes. "I have fulfilled my purpose here," she whispered.

"Of course. It is time for you to sleep," Marcus murmured, grimacing as he held a silver lighter in his hand.

"Good-bye, Tanya, Kate, Carmen, Eleazar. Until later," the blonde called out, and before she could hear their response, Alec wrapped her up in his analgesic and Marcus set her on fire.

She burned. Her hair flared up. She began to smoke.

Across the field, Tanya and Kate screamed in pain, watching their sister die. Isabella, Jane, and Alec stood around her to block the image from their minds as Irina peacefully slipped away, not feeling any of the pain associated with the burning.

"A tragedy you could have avoided, Carlisle," Aro whispered menacingly. "And your _son_ as well." He obviously didn't think Edward was Carlisle's son at all.

"How could we have avoided this?" Edward snarled out, suddenly angered.

"You didn't change the girl as soon as you could. You didn't let the venom take over her system the first time she was bitten. You tore at least three mating pairs apart. You will suffer the consequences."

The bronze-haired male seemed to grind his teeth at this revelation.

"But we must see your side first," Aro said reluctantly. He began to walk forward, trusting Isabella's mental shield to protect him from any attack. He held out his hand.

Edward began to hesitantly walk across the clearing. Jane gave a little smirk at the discomfort he showed.

Kristen's face became chagrined and focused. Isabella felt the other mental shield recede away from Edward hesitantly. She made sure to only isolate Aro's fingertips, ensuring his gift wouldn't be altered by the shield.

Aro took Edward's hand as if it were some disgusting insect he didn't want to touch. He read the thoughts that Edward had. Every single detail.

Kristen seemed to gnash her teeth over this. Stupid girl, nothing escapes the Volturi.

Edward lifted his chin arrogantly as Aro held his hand, as though it were some honor to even touch him. Isabella felt her siblings tense up beside her in outrage.

"_Du calme,_" (Calm down) Isabella hissed to her siblings. They glanced back at her and reluctantly obeyed, struggling to appear relaxed.

"As we suspected," Aro said, releasing Edward's hand.

Edward blinked, taking his hand back. "Sir?"

_**"May I meet her? Will you introduce me to your daughter?"**_ The way the word 'daughter' rolled off of Aro's tongue seemed to suggest otherwise, though Edward didn't notice.

_**"I think a compromise on this one point is certainly acceptable, under the circumstance. We will meet in the middle."**_ Edward's golden gaze tried its best to burrow into Aro's crimson stare.

_The nerve of this boy, _Isabella snarled inwardly. No one commanded the leader of the Volturi, the _king_ of their kind, like that!

Aro decided to humor him. They walked to the center, Aro walking in front of Edward stiffly.

_**"Perhaps you should bring a few members of your guard with us. It will make them more comfortable."**_

Aro thought about it. "Five guards to me, five to you."

Edward blinked. "Very well."

"Jane. Alec. Isabella. Demetri. Felix," Aro called out. It wasn't unexpected at the least, and crow-John was still flying about, though silently.

Edward grimaced as the elite guards walked forward, neutral expressions carefully carved onto their faces.

"Kristen. _**Bring Renesmee... and a few friends."**_

The newborn, her eyes still an orange-y amber, bit her lip before glancing around her.

_**"Jacob? Emmett?**_ Alice? Benjamin? Kate?" she called out. The four vampires and one shifter nodded discreetly before walking with her to the front. The girl, Renez-may or something, was squirming a bit as they approached. She feared them. It made Isabella almost upset that the girl feared them.

_**"Interesting company you keep,"**_ Demetri couldn't help but say to Edward, staring at Jacob. Jane nudged him slightly, glaring half-heartedly. Edward didn't notice, but kept his stony expression.

Kristen and the girl had finally come up. Isabella saw the girl for real this time; dark brown locks, not quite black, not quite brown, but a darker shade. Her eyes were a deep brown that mimicked the shade that Isabella herself once sported. She had a slightly darker complexion than her parents, which was also rather odd.

Renesmee didn't know why this female vampire was looking at her so carefully, but she felt almost _protected_ by her. She seemed nice enough, at least. Better than her own 'mother' probably.

Jane sneered at Edward and Alice, the latter of which discreetly linked her arm through Kristen's. Benjamin wasn't sure why Kristen chose him, but he shuffled his feet nervously without looking up at the guards, wishing he could flee back across the clearing. If everything that he had heard that Amun had viciously denied about the Italians was true, then Aro coveted gifted guards. Seeing the five that Aro chose to bring with him seemed to cement that for Benjamin. Kate fidgeted, wishing that she could wrap herself around Garrett again. Alec merely observed what was happening with a cool expression.

_**"Hello again,**_ Kristen," Felix said. He was obviously bored with this stand-off. Isabella was too, but seriously?

She grinned at him, a grin that looked much more like a disgusted grimace. _**"Hey, Felix."  
**_

_**"You look good. Immortality suits you**_," he said, taunting.

_**"Thanks so much."**_ A growl through her teeth.

_**"You're welcome,"**_ he said sarcastically, with a wolfish grin. _**"It's too bad..."**_

_**"Yes, too bad, isn't it?"**_ she said, cutting him off. Felix looked amused now, ticking this girl off.

_**"I hear her strange heart,"**_ Aro said, cutting off whatever Felix was going to jeer with next. _**"I smell her strange scent. In truth, young **_Kristen_**, immortality does become you most extraordinarily. It is as if you were designed for this life."**_

"Laying on the flattery, are we?" Demetri muttered in a way that only the four other guards heard. Isabella felt a dark smirk grace her features. She heard the hybrid, or dhampir as Lilianna classified, begin to breathe a little faster, heard the little girl's heart beat faster. Yet her eyes were still filled with a curious wonder. Strange.

_**"You liked my gift?"**_ Aro asked, smirking himself as he saw the giant gem. No one had wanted it in the Castle, despite its massive value, and if this empty-headed girl thought that wearing it would help her cause, she was dead wrong.

_**"It's beautiful, and very, very generous of you," **_she said politely._** "Thank you. I probably should have sent a note."**_

Aro laughed to himself. _**"It's just a little something I had lying around. I thought it might complement your new face, and so it does."**_

It was large and unnecessary. Isabella wondered if that was Aro's point.

_**"May I greet your daughter**_, young Kristen?"

Isabella saw the child visibly swallow as shaking hands held out her daughter.

"Isabella, come take the girl," Aro commanded. Her eyes flicked to the king's face, and her visage momentarily betrayed her confusion. She quickly stamped it out, nodded slightly, and stepped forward.

Kristen shrank away from Isabella's approach. "No, you won't touch my little Renesmee," she whimpered.

"My name's Nessie," Renesmee grumbled, still staring at Isabella in wonder.

"If you think I plan to harm the girl, you are naive and ignorant," Isabella commented, holding her hands out. Renesmee (or Nessie, she guessed) reached for Isabella slightly.

Renesmee was enthralled with this new woman. She seemed so much more interesting, fierce, confident than any other female she had met before. She wanted to show this newcomer her thoughts, her secrets. She wanted to be held by this woman.

Kristen's gaze flickered from Isabella's outstretched arms to Renesmee's earnest attempts to enter them. She took a shaky breath and put Renesmee in Isabella's arms.

Isabella held Renesmee much more loosely than Kristen had been holding her. The little girl seemed rather surprised by this sudden mobility and turned herself so that she could lean against Isabella's torso. Without changing her facial features whatsoever, Isabella walked over to Aro, still holding the girl. Renesmee felt oddly at peace in her arms.

_**"Hello, Renesmee,"**_ Aro said pleasantly to the girl.

"My name is Nessie," Renesmee reiterated, seemingly unfazed by Aro's presence.

He blinked before chuckling to himself. "Nessie, then. Half mortal, half immortal. _**Conceived so, and carried by this newborn while she was still human**_. What interesting parentage for someone as innocent as you."

It was Renesmee's turn to blink in confusion. She slowly raised her hand, glancing at Isabella nervously, and carefully stroked Aro's face.

Aro saw immediately Renesmee's comfort at being in Isabella's arms, her disgruntled attitude towards her name and her real parents, her confusion at the situation, her polite inquiries into why the Volturi were there.

"So innocent," Aro repeated quietly, gently pushing her hand away from his cheek. He smiled benevolently at the little girl with the brown eyes. _**"Of course I have no desire to harm your loved ones, **_Nessie."

Edward began to growl slightly, uncomfortable with his lack of knowledge at what Aro was thinking. The barrier had returned, blocking out all of the guards' thoughts and the kings' thoughts. He couldn't even hear Renesmee's thoughts. It was rather infuriating. Maisie smiled and giggled slightly at the veiled statement, a truth, but a partial truth for the other coven.

Carlisle heard the little twitter of laughter and looked over at the guards carefully. His eyes widened before becoming fierce.

Two lesser guards. Both familiar faces. Wrapped around one another.

His wayward 'son'. His friends' covenmate, said to be killed. Why were Jasper and Maggie there? And why didn't she flinch at the obvious lie, why did she chuckle at it? What was so damn funny about it?

Benjamin heard the laughter as well. He glanced up, but was immediately distracted by Renesmee, who had moved back to settle into Isabella's chest again. He saw how comfortably she seemed to fit inside this female's arms, against her body, how they seemed so natural together. He noticed that the female held her carefully, allowing her all freedom while still making sure she couldn't slip out and run off. He noticed the female's eyes, her mahogany hair, her piercing crimson eyes, so different from his own.

He felt his core begin to warm. Not the warmth that preceded the flames that would dance around his fingers, but a warmth so profound that it made the leaves around them feel like lifeless chips of paint as opposed to fiery remnants of life.

Isabella felt his staring and glanced over. Who was this dark-skinned boy to stare at her and this girl so fiercely? Did he feel protective over her, as protective as she felt over her siblings? She held his gaze for as long as she could muster. She felt something awaken within her, something that only woke up when her siblings were around, but less ferociously.

What was this feeling?

"Nessie, you may return to your family now. Isabella," Aro said, gesturing to the nervous vampires in front of them.

Isabella glanced to them, opting to put the child on the wolf's back. Nessie grabbed the wolf, but stroked Isabella's cheek again somehow. The infernal child had a way to _glean_ memories from some other source and pass them on, it seemed.

Isabella froze at the image. It looked to be a dark-skinned vampire. He was casually talking to Kristen, who looked terrified. She was focusing most on the crimson eyes. So was whoever the memory belonged to. She felt a deep growl emanate from the memory's owner; it was probably the wolf's memory. The vampire's eyes widened before they relaxed again.

_"Who are your friends, Kristen?"_ A voice of genuine curiosity. _"I've never seen such large animals around here before."_

_"Please, kill him! He tried to bite me!"_ the hysterical girl, still human, shrieked. A larger growl; three others answered the first's call. The vampire's eyes widened and he held his arms up.

_"Kristen, what are you talking about? I just asked where the Cullens are!"_ he spluttered, backing away hastily. The gaze panned back to Kristen; she didn't waver as she pointed a trembling finger at the vampire.

_"He tried to kill me!" _she screeched again. The wolf growled, then summoned his brethren to charge at the vampire. The vampire ran away.

They chased him down. The one that owned the memory succeeded in bowling him over, holding his arms down with massive paws.

_"Any last words?" _the wolf snarled out. The vampire probably couldn't understand him, but he looked at the wolf in the eyes.

_"I swear on my honor that I didn't try to kill her,"_ he tried again.

_"Liar!"_ another wolf's snarl echoed from across the forest, a snarl that turned into a series of barks.

_"Paul! Shut up!" _the memory-owner growled out, his eyes snapping from his unruly packmate to the vampire that lay complacently on the ground.

_"Please, if you ever see her somehow, tell Irina that I love her, that I'm sorry for leaving her, that I'll wait for her as long as it takes for her to join me," _he choked out. The wolf leaned over.

Then blackness.

Isabella leaned away from the child, shocked. She stared at the girl, who gave her a defiant look in return. For a split second, Isabella admired the child's courage in showing her the memory. She nodded discreetly to the girl.

Aro watched the entire exchange curiously. When Isabella lightly touched his hand and showed him the memory, his eyes turned black.

"So they truly didn't know," Aro said quietly. He raised his voice.

"Kristen, what I think would benefit this entire situation is if you were to offer me your hand." Aro held his out coldly, holding it out.

Edward had been standing next to Kristen the entire time, not saying anything at all. He sneered at Aro's request.

"With _all due respect_," he said, sounding as though he didn't give the king any at all, "you can't read her mind. No one can. Not even me."

Aro smiled frigidly, menacingly, dangerously. Renesmee shivered and huddled closer to Jacob's wolf, who himself didn't look up from the leaf-covered grass. Kate shrank back, Benjamin couldn't help but look towards Isabella in an attempt to look away from Aro, Alice gripped Kristen's arm tighter as both vampires shivered, Emmett moved more protectively around Jacob and Renesmee. The Volturi guards didn't respond at all.

Isabella smiled ever so slightly. Finally, he was letting her do what he didn't allow all those weeks ago.

Kristen hesitantly placed her hand in Aro's. Aro didn't read anything, as he expected.

Fortunately, Isabella didn't let him down.

Kristen first felt nothing, maybe a slight tapping. Then a slight cutting sensation, which confused her. Her skin was too hard to cut. The cutting was followed by a more intense tapping. And finally, the hammering. It felt as though her skull was shattering, that every one of her brains were being liquefied under some imaginary jackhammer that drove deep into her mind and tore her out.

Isabella's smile enlarged into a proud smirk as the girl began to scream to herself. The newborn's eyes widened before getting squeezed tight as the other hand came up to grip her temple. Her lips widened in a silent scream, one that slowly built up until it sounded as though she were being electrocuted.

Aro could easily read her thoughts now. Tearing out that final mental shield, allowing Aro to read her mind for the split second that he needed to, was obviously more damaging than either Isabella or Aro thought it was.

Edward's eyes grew darker at every shriek Kristen gave, at the way Isabella's smirk grew. He obviously didn't like being proven wrong in such a manner.

"What have you done to her?!" he demanded.

"I have gotten my information," Aro said coldly. He read how Laurent had nonchalantly come up to her after finding her, addressed her pleasantly, asked her where the Cullens were. He saw how she had been driven over the edge in grief to demand for his death.

"Edward Cullen, you are sentenced to death for splitting three pairs of mates by killing one member of each, purposefully or not, and failing to comply with Volturi orders to change your wife in the time we gave you. Both are considered fatal and could have resulted in an information leak. You will die today."

"Not on my watch!" Carlisle screamed, rushing forward to defend his first creation, his most precious child. The vampires in the center jumped backwards to coalesce with their side of the battle.

Jane, Alec, and Isabella exchanged a look. The final battle had begun. The one that would define the Cullens' future as a coven.

* * *

**So. The final pairing I decided on about 30 chapters ago was Isabella/Benjamin. Only one person, I am in Loki's Army, has known this entire time (or at least for 30 chapters), and that was because I told her xD IAILA, your acting is amazing and I commend you for never revealing it. There was one random guess of Benjamin that I never denied, but you guys didn't really seem to pick up on that, haha.  
**

**Why Benjamin? First of all, the story that I read on his wiki between him and Tia was a bit shady. They were cousins, I believe, but I guess they fell in love and then Benjamin disappeared and returned two years later to change Tia? First of all, I have no idea how that can be an actual love story. Because 1850-ish is a bit too soon for me to accept somewhat-incest like that. 1600s, maybe, if only because it was somewhat common. So I changed it so they were as close as siblings, though not actually in love, and that Tia tracked Benjamin down during his transformation. Also Benjamin is canon-15 but his overall attitude in the books felt more mature than Edward, so I made him around 18/19 and Tia around 17 in my mind. It's like how Renata's supposed to be around 20 but I felt she would be better as a 14-year old. This age set-up and different backstory set it up perfectly to make him a candidate to become Isabella's mate. Tia and Benjamin didn't really seem like mates to me in _Breaking Dawn_. They seemed to be really good friends, but not really mates. On another note, it seemed that mates counteract each other; Bella/Kristen deflects the outermost thoughts, Edward reads those thoughts, Emmett is physically strong and Rosalie is physically slender, etc. In this case, Benjamin is a physical weapon and Isabella is a mental shield; it seemed like the most perfect opposition I could come up with. Finally, I've never seen an Isabella/Benjamin pairing, so I just went 'why not?' and made it a thing.**

**For those who are curious, their relationship will not be addressed in this story much, but there's another thing that I've implied in this chapter, another dimension to their mate-bond. It's been implied in a few chapters back as well.**

**Sorry to disappoint the majority of you guys that seemed to really want another person, like Garrett or something. The only problem there was their personalities. Benjamin's real personality wasn't really expounded on in the books, which makes him a clean slate for me to play with. Garrett, Peter, and whoever else already seemed set in stone based on their actions, no matter how few scenes they were in.**

**Whatever side of the fence you're on, make sure to review to either cheer for the fact that _Isabella finally has a freaking mate agh_ or _Why Benjamin?! _because I will read them all the same and compare them and such. And we haven't even got to the exciting stuff yet!**

**Review with any opinions, comments, questions, etc.**

**~Shriayle**


	54. Syzygy: Harsh Rays

**Well, the reveal about Benjamin was taken a lot better than I thought it would be xD Thanks for your support! And yes, there is a parental bond linking Benjamin, Isabella, and Renesmee together, but that's not the only thing about their connection. You'll see the rest in this chapter.**

**If you haven't yet, please go vote on the website I posted a chapter ago! It means a lot to me :)**

**400 reviews? Wow guys, I'm honored :D  
**

**Now that I look at this block of text, maybe I should just reply to guests on these chapters and just PM you guys for later stories when the reviews go over 10 or something. Or maybe condense these replies down to a continuous block or something.**

**REPLIES:**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: Damn, you're a fast replier. And yep, two more chapters after this one for the main story.**

**Guest (1): I haven't gotten any negative feedback on it as of yet, which is surprising. And nice :D **

**Guest (2): Slowly-ish winding down a bit now, we are.**

**Artistia: First of all, AHHHHH YOU'RE READING THIS STORY OMG. I literally just finished reading _The Wild Ones_ like two days ago xD Thank you! I'm still on the fence about doing more Twilight stories, but if so, I might. I always felt bad for Irina; she had to go back to the place where her mate died and somehow not seem torn up about it. I'm trying to follow canon storylines in this fiction, so she had to die, but I didn't want to make it the really cruel death she seemed to have in _Breaking Dawn_. Canon-Bella annoys everyone, it seems. Isabella's much more fun to play with :) And Isabella approves of your comment about her.**

**Maiannaise: I know you meant Isabella xD I replied to someone sarcastically in the same manner and I felt it was awkward if I didn't answer you the same way haha. Also Isabella/Benjamin seems valid to me, even if it really doesn't work out canon-wise.**

**Fanfictionlover124: Maybe, maybe not. You will find out in this chapter maybe.  
**

**bao-earthdragon: I'm rather happy that so many people have understood the parental bond without me overtly stating "THEY'RE HER PARENTS BUT NOT REALLY". Alice was meant to wander the earth alone and Kristen, well, she gets the same ending. Their relationship creeped up on my around the Eclipse storyline. I've planned these chapters far in advance, so it was something spontaneous to slide in. Alice's original feelings were more empathy and pity driven, not mate-bond driven. Aaaahhhh, all of your lovely compliments are wonderful and I love to read them! I can definitely find a few faults, especially with the beginning few chapters, but I'm getting more and more proud of this story as it goes along. I plan out everything so far in advance that I can constantly think, how can I get to this plot point from this one without dragging the story down, where should there be a couple of cuter moments (i.e. JOHN STOP), etc. Every idea I've really had for a Twilight fiction has culminated into this fiction, though I've been getting more ideas that I might need to write out later (MUCH LATER). It's nice to know that all of the thinking I put into this story is paying off :)**

**I am the Story Teller: Um. Isabella/Nessie never occurred to me as a viable thing xD I agree about the entire mating/imprinting with children idea. 'Tis ick. And I wanted to expand a LOT more on Benjamin than just the happy, positive guy that he is in this fiction :D Not that I'm against happy people. Giving away a puppy..? If anything, I'm giving you guys a puppy haha. And the story's not really ending yet... AATTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKK on titan**

**Ultimate Kiwi: Bella/Benjamin would be rather cute, I think, but not the canon-Bella. I feel like Benjamin would get tired of her very quickly. Sorry that I'm not including too much mate-y things in this story for Isabella and Benjamin.**

**YunaNeko: :D**

**I am in Loki's Army: 'Ey, knowing me, I would have implied it somewhere somehow xD Acting isn't my forte, I'm going to say. And yep! Presents for EVERYONE.**

**Rusky01: Leaving with a bang..? xD You'll understand why I find this funny in a couple seconds.**

**WolfAlpha13: Thank you! Haha, I don't bite when I reply. Or, at least, I try not to. Wow, top 5, really? I'm flattered :)**

**ClumsyReader: It's fine. It kind of annoys me that some people still refer to Isabella as Bella, even though we're so close to being done and I've tried my hardest to establish that Isabella isn't called Bella at all.**

**VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: Well, here it is :D**

**princessjen211101: You gotta speak up then, girl! They are rather cute to me as well :)**

**Sally (Guest): Ah! Thank you for your kind words! Keeping people on the edge of their seats is always a good thing in my book :D**

**BadAssTwilightGirls: heheheh i'm just cruel like that~**

**jlove34: Thanks! Yeah, Isabella/Benjamin is something that I'm kind of curious about, and he's one of my favorite characters (and not just because I can make _Avatar_ jokes with him). I'm not going to say it's my OTP or something, but it's a more unusual pairing for a more unusual kind of AU rewrite, I guess.**

* * *

The golden-eyed vampires' world began to end with a bang. Whether or not it would end with a whimper was a different question.

Immediately, Isabella tore the rest of Kristen's inner mind down and Alec quickly suffocated her. She slumped to the ground, unconscious, but not before Kate darted forward and grabbed Alec's neck, trying to remain in character.

"Forgive me," she whispered to him before turning her power onto maximum and sending more than a hundred volts of electrical shock through his body. He began to jerk about, his body no longer his own as it shook from the force of the shock.

Isabella had had to take her own shield down to focus on Kristen's, but now she snapped it up to protect her brother. Snarling, Isabella tore Kate off, snapped off the offending arm without a blink, and flung it as far away as she could. She left Kate writhing in pain on the ground, giving anyone who tried to approach a glare as Jane shook her twin, screaming. She let Kate crawl after her broken limb and reattach it carefully, biting it to introduce more venom into the system.

"Alec?! Alec! Wake up! Wake up! Please, Alec!" the almost-blonde whimpered, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him roughly.

"Jane, your voice is too damn loud, quiet down," he managed to say, struggling to control his still painfully jerking body. He bit his lip as he tried to regain control. "That really fucking hurt." The understatement was underscored by his cursing; Alec was typically a quiet male who never said anything harsher than 'dang'.

"Don't worry me, then, you idiot!" Jane growled, almost slapping him across the face out of relief but choosing to hug him instead. She turned cold, burning crimson eyes on the Cullens' collection of witnesses. The rage building up in her stomach, Jane released spears of pain throughout the entire expanse.

One hit Carlisle, who was at least five yards away from the rest of his group, and he fell to the ground with a pained screech. No one else reacted. Kristen had regained focus just in time.

Demetri and Felix glanced at Aro. "Do we go?" Felix asked briefly.

Aro nodded. "_In veritate victoria!_" he called out, pointing forward. The two other kings echoed his cry and motion, triggering the start of the Volturi assault.

The mass of grey-cloaks and black-cloaks surged forward, growling and snarling at the injustice they witnessed. Carlisle was merely extending the time before his creation was to die; the guards far outmatched any collection of nomads that the golden-eyed vampire could muster.

Isabella threw up shield after shield, layering them ferociously, punishing herself for letting them down out of her own pride. Her pride, her hubris, her hamartia. She targeted Kristen again, who seemed relieved for whatever reason.

"Alec, send a mist over there, see how big that shield is," Isabella commanded quietly. Alec obeyed from his position on the ground, leaves rustling as he lifted a hand up to help direct the smoke.

"Volturi, fall back!" Demetri barked out, seeing Alec's gift advance. The other side watched in horror as the mist approached, creeping along the leaf-covered ground. It spread out, targeting everyone on the other side. A chasm split the earth; Isabella noticed that the vampire that had been staring at her had sent the tremor moments before it actually hit. _How did I predict that?_ she thought momentarily before waving off the confused thought. The fog easily floated past the chasm. Large gales tried to blow it out, but it refused to move as it crawled towards the Cullens' witnesses.

And it hit a wall.

The dome started a good ten feet past Kristen's defiant form. The newborn looked relieved. The others in her side looked impressed. Isabella knew that it was too far from them to mean anything; if Jane somehow got under that shield, she could easily target any of the others underneath it.

_**"Well done,**_ Kristen!" the vampire that noticed Isabella cheered. Isabella's eyes narrowed as a flicker of some emotion rose within her. _What is happening? Is this some sort of hatred?_

"Alec, make them feel secure for a second, will you?" Isabella asked. Her brother extended the mist higher, illuminating the dome, and pasted a perplexed and frustrated expression onto his face. The newborn smiled at herself, satisfied as his mist outlined the dome perfectly. Isabella held back a smile; her brother knew what she wanted even if she didn't voice it.

Isabella smirked as the satisfaction on Kristen's face turned into horror.

Isabella had carefully poked holes into the shield-dome at the very top and the very bottoms, completely painlessly. The mist began to drift in. _Now the fun begins_.

"Cage them in, brother," Jane hissed in a sort of sadistic pleasure. Caius smiled proudly at his apprentice's accomplishments. Aro watched the siblings work together with a warmth rushing through his body. Demetri and Renata watched their mates and their sister work together, in perfect tandem.

Alec began to control a more opaque mist now, showing off all of his strength. He arched it into a neat circle around the Cullens' witnesses and sent thin streaks of his mist high above their heads, outlining the dome carefully. Bars seemed to flourish from the sides, connecting the individual streaks. As the witnesses tried to step out of it, Jane set tiny pinpricks of pain to shove them towards the center of the dome. The dome that was once their protective wall.

The witnesses were effectively trapped in their own shield.

"Herd them to the middle of the field," Aro intoned.

Alec carefully nudged them and forced them to walk towards the Volturi. The guards automatically began to circle around the dome. It was all going to plan.

Until the dog in the cage growled and then howled, signaling for others to come and help. _Damn it, we forgot about the wolves._

Immediately, wolves flooded from the forest, teeth bared, snarling.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted," Alec said, dissipating his mist as he turned to face the wolves. "I'll hope that you guys can keep them occupied."

Aro noticed a russet tail disappearing into the forest. A small figure was sitting on top of it.

"Isabella, Alec, Jane, don't let those two escape!" he said, pointing at the receding animal. He began to shout commands to the other guards. "Demetri, Felix, lead two separate coalitions! Renata, stay with the protected! Make sure that Damian doesn't say anything that could harm anyone!"

"Come, brother, sister," Isabella said as she darted after the animal. She took to the trees, leaping off of branches to catch up to them. "You two, track them from the ground. I'll cut them off."

Jacob had Renesmee on his back. They were activating their safety plan, the one to take Nessie to Brazil and hopefully away from harm. He could feel the messenger bag she wore thudding against his side as he ran on. He felt his heart race as the smell of vampire eased around him. He realized what was happening far too late.

Isabella landed in front of him, jumping out of a tree, Alec and Jane appearing at the rear. Jacob skidded to a halt and began to snarl at them, eyes rolling. He couldn't let them hurt Renesmee, not a single hair on her head.

"Peace, wolf, we shan't harm you," Isabella said, holding her hands up. "Jane and Alec will not use their gifts against you."

Renesmee watched the interesting lady again. She had complete control over this horrid situation, impressively so, even back in the meadow. Nessie had seen how the siblings had listened to words too quiet for her parents' side to hear, how they listened and obeyed. She almost wanted to walk over and have the woman to hold her again. It was interesting how mature she was as well; she appeared maybe the physical age of her real 'mother' but acted infinitely more adult-like.

Jacob wasn't as enthralled with the vampires.

_"How do I know you won't kill us?" _he snarled, knowing they wouldn't be able to understand him. He wasn't sure if he was expecting an answer; he was just enraged that he couldn't save this girl for his childhood friend.

The crow that had been fluttering around the clearing suddenly dove straight for their little forest meeting, changing into a wolf moments before landing gracefully.

_"Stand down, alpha of this land," _John said menacingly, in a tongue understandable to both vampire and shifter alike. Jacob's eyes widened at this newcomer, this black as night wolf that was just a crow. He had hazy golden eyes that still somehow looked alert at the same time. Jacob felt himself begin to succumb to his potent words, but help himself up. He was alpha of this land, as the stranger said. He wouldn't back down.

_"Who are you to tell me to stand down?"_ Jacob asked.

_"The only immortal shifter with control over all creatures. Stand down. Surrender the girl to us. Upon my honor, she won't be harmed." _He sounded truthful, earnest. Jacob couldn't just follow that cue.

Jacob's mind raced. _"I need an oath on that," _he said, growling more quietly now.

_"Fair enough. If you return the girl, none of the wolves will be attacked. We will defend ourselves against them, but they will not be physically assaulted by any of our side."_

Jacob huffed, knowing that the good of the tribe superseded the good of the girl sitting on his back.

"Nessie, was it? Come here, child," Isabella said, holding her hand out. Renesmee uncertainly took it, leaning forward shakily on Jacob's shoulders.

"I will carry you back to the clearing. We will leave you with the other protecteds."

Nessie didn't understand, but the lady knew what she was doing, and Jacob seemed to like her. "Okay," the girl said simply, allowing the unknown female to reach for her.

Isabella picked the girl up and ran back, hearing two vampires and two wolves pursuing her. They returned and Isabella immediately went over to Maisie. The fiery-haired girl and Renata were standing in the front, analyzing who was to come near and for what reason.

"She is to be protected here. Do not let anyone come near."

Maisie nodded. "Renata's been doing that already."

Isabella turned to see complete mayhem. Vampires that obviously did not want to fight slashed out halfheartedly. She heard the russet wolf growl something out, watched the wolves' fighting falter and watched them vanish into the woods.

"You have our oath," Isabella said solemnly. The russet wolf nodded, looked guiltily at the little dhampir, and raced off after his pack.

The Cullens were surprised that the wolves left, and also that the Volturi didn't go after them, redirecting their attention towards the remaining forces. The Denali coven had already bowed out of the fight, still grieving over Irina's assisted suicide. The others kept fighting, but the kings had surrounded Carlisle and forced him to stand down. He somehow broke free, escaping their grasp in the mayhem of the battle.

The crack on the ground was deterring fighting; Rosalie had wrestled Bree, forcing her closer to the chasm. Bree's gift of escape wasn't helping her now. Her movements became pointedly more frantic and panicked as they got closer and closer to the gaping earth. She began to scream for help, drawing Didyme's and Marcus's attention. Both looked helplessly at their daughter, incapable of saving her. Marcus frantically fought off his attacker (the Egyptian leader Amun, who looked all too happy to stop fighting the ex-soldier) and raced to her rescue.

By that time, Rosalie was practically dangling Bree over the edge with a sneer. Isabella could hear her say, "We offered you a chance to join us, you ungrateful whelp. You could have left Italy, but you didn't. This is your punishment, disgusting human-drinker."

"Jane, get over there, Alec, over there," Isabella said, pointing in two different directions where vampires still fought.

Jane raced over to Rosalie, prepared to throw Bree as far away from the canyon's opening as possible. She tried to use her gift before realizing that the newborn was still defending them. When one Cullen, the one called Emmett, tried to attack Jane, Alec threw himself at him, bowling him over and trying to restrain him as quickly as possible with his own gift. When he realized it didn't work, Alec quickly determined where Kristen was hiding and yelled at Demetri to distract her. Demetri got Santiago to attack Edward, who hadn't been expecting the assault, blind as he was without his gift (thanks Isabella), and quickly shoved Kristen into a physical altercation, which the newborn wasn't ready for. Alice immediately ran to her mate and slapped at Demetri's arms constantly and desperately, becoming little more than a pest to the tracker. Demetri nonchalantly threw her as far away as he could, which ended up being a lot farther than he thought, before attracting Kristen's attention long enough for Jane and Alec's gifts to have some effect on the others. Isabella could see enemies fall over, either howling in pain or trying frantically to get up with unresponsive limbs.

As soon as they left, Isabella was bowled over by another force.

She glared up to see Vladimir looking back at her. "Ah, pity, I was aiming for the male," he purred, staring at her with want burning in his eyes. "I'll just have to try and kill his sister instead."

"Fuck off," Isabella spat, trying earnestly to shove him away. He struggled slightly but managed to keep her pinned down.

"We were promised a fight with you Italian bastards, see," Vladimir snarled quietly, still trying to stare into Isabella's murderous orbs, "and we got one. We take our revenge and land back _now_."

Isabella shrieked and tore at his face with her teeth, watching in cold pleasure as she blinded him with a canine. She spat more venom directly into his face. He screamed and fell back, clutching his now burning eye.

"You'll pay for that, bitch!" he screamed before lunging at her again. She sidestepped his clumsy blow but didn't expect for his companion, that disgusting Stefan, to push her over the second she did so.

"Cowards," she sneered from the ground, venom welling in her mouth again. Vladimir clawed at his now useless eye, Stefan ignoring his plight.

The white-haired Romanian strode up to her. "You don't understand, do you? You don't know of the pain you almost subjected us to? We were torn in half, hastily put back together and forced to live on."

"You committed a crime against all of vampiric kind!" Isabella gasped out, trying to get up, though Vladimir kicked her back down with a whim. "You amassed vast armies of newborns, practiced necrophilia with human corpses, even exposed yourself to the humans on numerous occasions! You did not deserve death, but endless torture!"

"You pathetic government types, you all talk the same," Stefan sneered. "We were embracing our inner selves. Perhaps you should have done so as well."

"Inner selves?" Isabella spat out, striking suddenly. Like a viper, the way she taught her siblings so long ago. Her outstretched hand slashed at a part of Stefan's arm, tearing half of the hard flesh out and throwing it to the side as he howled in pain. "What inner selves do you have?! Your selfish desires have exposed us all!"

Vladimir lunged forward and somehow, impossibly, grabbed one arm, and then another. He held her back as Stefan approached, ignoring the feebly twitching section of his arm on the ground next to him. "You pathetic little witch, I'll kill you," the white-haired Romanian hissed out.

Isabella struggled to free herself. All around, she watched battles rage, between unwilling guards and unwilling witnesses. Garrett was trying to hold his own against Felix and only succeeded as Felix chose not to fight him, merely defending against his attacks with his brute force. Jane was darting through sparring vampires and ushering Bree over to the protected, though Carlisle was trying desperately to grab her and destroy her, which was in turn enraging Alec and Demetri both. Damian looked as though he was struggling not to say anything as Gianna ran through the crowd, petrified. His eyes widened as he saw another vampire, one of the native females, grab her and throw her to the ground. Damian let out a high-pitched shriek, incapable of holding it in any longer, and the native and all of the enemies in the vicinity fell to the ground, gripping her ears. Lenna sent out a spark to trip another native that was trying to get to the incapacitated one, sending her sprawling to the ground as well. Isabella fought desperately to think of anything but the disgusting vampires that slowly advanced on her, ready to kill her as tortuously slowly as possible.

Isabella saw a tannish blur run towards her. Was there another vengeful vampire, out to kill her?

A burst of flame. The sudden heat swept past her, striking against Stefan, who had been slowly advancing, milking her helplessness. Vladimir froze in shock at the sudden inferno, watching speechlessly as his companion burned alive. Isabella took advantage of the shock to fling herself forward in a jumping flip and smashing Vladimir to the ground. Her muscles screamed along with her from the pain; she felt herself crack and reform.

"You dare," the black-haired Romanian roared, though Isabella could tell he wasn't yelling at her, "attack someone on your own side?!"

Vladimir lay on the ground, under her feet. He was snarling much more feebly, and she began to tear his limbs apart, his head off hastily, making a quick pile, before turning to run towards Carlisle and make sure he burned to ashes for _daring_ to attack her sister.

Her savior, the one who summoned the flames, was now her captor. Benjamin had anticipated that she would run off to defend Jane and knew that he had to stop her.

"Let go of me, you piece of filth!" Isabella screeched. "Jane! _Jane!"_

"Isa!" Jane screamed in response, sending a spear of pain at Benjamin before spearing Carlisle through the chest. Carlisle winced in response before somehow shaking it off and advancing towards Jane again. Benjamin felt himself set alight, burning the way his flames couldn't, but he wouldn't let go of the woman in his arms, the one who struggled to rejoin her siblings.

"Whoreson! Bastard! Let me the fuck go! JANE!" Isabella gasped out, gripping the attacker's arms to crack them and maybe get out to flay that animal-drinking piece of shit alive. She couldn't force herself to mangle him, even though she got threateningly close. None of her attempts worked. If anything, the arms around her grew tighter.

"I can't let you! They want to kill you!" Benjamin responded desperately.

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE! I NEED TO GET TO HER! I NEED TO SAVE HER!" Isabella screamed, all semblance of reason gone. All she could think about was _Jane_, her beautiful little sister who loved the pretty colors that her skin gave off and who always tried to please her, Jane who was misunderstood, Jane who would die if this stupid male wouldn't let her go.

"She can help herself!" Benjamin hissed out.

"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU STAND FOR!" Isabella howled. She felt his arms vanish around her and her sense of security diminish slightly, but that didn't matter, what mattered was that _Jane was about to die_. Isabella flung out her shield one last time, just in case, glaring at her captor with a look that could have been more vicious, and ran into the fray.

Benjamin looked after her, feeling utterly helpless. This woman, Isabella as Aro had called her earlier, who made him feel complete, had told him to let her go save her sister. It was a stronger bond than he had to Tia, even. And he couldn't just make her give up on her attempts. He knew that the hole in his chest, the one he didn't notice before, couldn't even be filled without her; he feared what would happen if she died by Carlisle's hands. Would he try to kill the coven leader, thereby sending the entire balance of the coven off-kilter? Would he try to kill _himself_? He realized, frightened, that he would probably do both.

Isabella didn't know of his internal conflict, her thoughts consisting of _Jane no Jane please I can't let her die not now it's been too long for this she needs to keep living_. Isabella threw herself at Carlisle with an enraged snarl.

"You _dare_," she said, her lips drawn back and her teeth exposed, "try to kill my sister?! You _dare _try to even touch her? Huh?!"

Carlisle was breathless and shocked. He thought the Romanians were holding the older sister back, how was she still alive. He glanced over, noticing Benjamin setting fire to what was left of Vladimir's body with a sort of perverse happiness mixed with a slight depression in his eyes. Carlisle knew that by threatening the twin, he would die by Isabella's hands.

But Jane couldn't watch her sister kill someone, even if it was for her honor. "Isa, don't!" The single cry calmed Isabella enough for her to stumble back, her crimson eyes wide, gasping. Carlisle wisely stayed on the ground, his form slumped over.

"You are lucky we are only here to persecute your son, Carlisle," Alec said menacingly, allowing his tendrils to wrap around Carlisle's limbs, robbing him of motion but not robbing him of his sense. "Yet, not so lucky. Jane, get Bree to safety. I need to go make sure Damian doesn't kill someone on accident."

The sounds of battle quieted down in all but one place.

Jasper was hissing furiously at Edward in the center of the field. All other battles ended in different manners. Garrett had just given up on Felix and had targeted Demetri only to fall under Jane's rage. Emmett had been trying to chase Lilianna down, who taunted him by slowing down just enough for him to reach out and brush a hand against her cloak before dashing out of his flailing arms. Heidi was facing Rosalie down, hypnotizing her and forcing her to stand down. Esme had long since stopped fighting, knowing that it was too late to even hope for her son's survival, and had joined the Denalis. Alice and Kristen hadn't been trained physically and were struggling to defend themselves against Aaron and Jamie, who fought in tandem to keep them away from the rest. Afton had been sneaking around with Chelsea, systematically destroying any final loyalties to the Cullens. Alistair had long since been run off by Santiago. Kachiri had been revived and stepped away from Gianna as Damian finally tore his arm out of Corin's iron grip and raced towards her, shrieking loudly. The native slumped to the ground again, immobilized by the banshee-like screech.

But the empath and mind-reader remained.

"You replaced Alice so quickly!" Edward was sneering, trying to hit Jasper somehow. Jasper's cold logic and well-trained instinct kept him bantering as well as easily fending off Edward's clumsy blows.

"Alice wasn't my mate. You knew. She knew. I even knew. Looks like we're all happy with our decisions except for your cold dick, though," Jasper jeered back, smirking.

"How did you get her to like you, unlovable bastard?" Edward mused aloud with a snarl. "Did you have to force yourself on your new mate? What could you do to make a woman want you besides that, especially one so pure and innocent as Maggie, though she is a human-drinker?"

Isabella stifled a gasp as Jasper's eyes turned pure black from rage.

"Why are you asking _me _that, you fucking cunt," Jasper roared back, finally striking out and slapping Edward across the face. Edward's visage cracked from the force and he stumbled to the ground. Jasper didn't stop there, choosing to kick Edward's stomach until the animal-drinker began to cough up venom. "_Maisie_ loves me more than anyone in your shit coven ever did! But you? You forced that girl to wed you, to _try_ and _love _you, after you left and broke her heart! I heard all of the stories! I have made my peace with my past, plebeian!"

Isabella stifled a laugh this time at the uncontrollable anger on Edward's face. Apparently, calling him a peasant was the worst insult.

Edward cast his gaze around desperately, finally seeing John's milky gold eyes. "You! You wear their black cloak of loyalty, yet you abide by our diet, do you not?"

John blinked before laughing like a hyena, sporadically and high-pitched in sound. As the others heard the insane sound, the battles began to settle down, staring at him in either horror or amusement. In front of their eyes, John turned into a hyena, still laughing. The non-Volturi vampires shouted in astonishment, backing away hurriedly, while many of the guards either ignored the animal or rolled their eyes at it. They had seen John literally dissolve into a hyena in the middle of laughing fits before.

Edward, who hadn't, was completely horrified.

John shifted back, still laughing slightly, setting his golden gaze a little past Edward's face, having to estimate where he was. "I am golden-eyed merely because I am a shifter. Changed to be saved from the brink of death by disrepair by a guard. I also take from the dregs of society. I do not hunt the innocent animals meant for larger predators, or the larger predators meant for nature to steal away."

The shifter turned into a tiny chihuahua, stalking Edward's frozen form. Jasper laughed silently, his stomach aching from the comical sight. Only John would find something macabre to do in this situation to amuse the rest of the guards.

John turned into a tiny insect next, freaking Edward out even more. John landed on Edward's leg before changing back into his human-like form. "Boo," he said with a smirk, his face centimeters away from Edward's gaze.

Edward could see every single web-like strand in his pupils, blocking his vision, but he could also see a danger, a dark warning buried deep in the trickster's gaze. He knew now that his golden eyes were merely burdens for this guard, that the deepest shades of crimson better suited him.

John flipped backwards and away from Edward, effectively kicking the stunned mind-reader in the head. He gave a final smirk before waving sarcastically and disappearing into a crowd of grey and black cloaks that had materialized around him.

Edward knew that he was doomed.

Aro strode to the front of the crowd and demanded silence. His brothers were with him, staring down at him.

Justice was to be wrought on that day.

* * *

**If you did not catch the **_**thing**_**, basically, to Isabella, sibling bond is more important than mating bond. As long as Jane and Alec are in danger, she doesn't care about her mate at all. Her only focus for her life was her siblings for too long for her to even think about holding someone else, including the vampire meant to be her 'other half', higher than them. Yay for protective instincts.**

**Also, whenever you are sad, just remember that John is literally the Moon Moon of the Volturi.**

**~Shriayle**


	55. Syzygy: Judgment Day

**Penultimate chapter for the fiction! Are you ready?**

**I've changed my reply format, just because it seems to take up too much room for my taste otherwise. If you can't find the right reply, just ctrl+f your username and use the find function.  
**

**REPLIES:**

**Goddess Cure Mystic: **Pretty much xD Edward took a bit too long to learn his lesson. |=| **bao-earthdragon: **I tried to make it easier to discern so that every time, even without blatantly stating it, it was easy to see the bond :D My muse is just as unwilling as others', but she finds it more fun to play with a given story than create her own completely. I believe I had a huge mental block right before these exciting chapters because there wasn't enough to write about, so I was struggling for a bit. I had to rework the chapters over and over to make sure that I kept the number of chapters I intended to make this fiction and still make the word limit I set for myself. Your method sounds like the preliminary stuff I try to do before setting out writing a skeletal plot :D I feel like there are a few plot holes in this story still, but not big enough to be annoying like I've seen in other stories. I'm okay with clichés if they're written well, personally. I kind of wanted to try the 'Bella-goes-to-Volterra-and-never-leaves" cliché one time, but I'm probably not going to. This story concept just began as Jane and Alec's backstory, and then I just went, "But I want to humanize them..." and had to include an older sister idea to show that they needed someone to ground them when they were changed. It's the only reason this story is as coherent as it could be; I'm sure that other idea would have ended up with Jane and Alec going out of control around 1800. Isabella is heavily based on one of my childhood friends, actually. I haven't talked to that girl in seven years, geez. But she had four younger siblings and she was always sacrificing her own things for them, even as an elementary school student. She shared her room with her younger sister, stayed up late to make sure her brothers were asleep, and took care of their three dogs and two cats, all before the age of ten. I would have gone insane if I was her. So this is my slight homage to that friend as well as my take on a protective Isabella. Canon-Bella annoyed me because of how selfish she tended to act. I haven't read that story, actually, but maybe I should. I don't hate the Cullens, really. Their characterization is just necessary in this story. And yes, fight scenes aren't really my forte, and while Isabella is happy that the Romanians are dead, she's a bit more concerned about _oh my god Jane what the hell what is that guy trying to do I'm going to fucking kill him. _Also her emotional output can rival that of a teaspoon, so you can't really tell xD It's her method of living: cutting herself off from the world. Also, Isabella politely declines your proposal since she has now found her mate. And Jane says no hugs. |=| **Arabella Whitlock:** I have imagined this scene for so long :D I only wish that I could have included the other guards somehow, but that made it sound too convoluted and distracted from the action so... And Jane did freak out a lot when Alec was attacked by Kate, a lot more than even Renata could have. They aren't as aware of the strength of the bond. Isabella is rather sensitive to it as she's been their maternal figure for most of their mortal and immortal life. |=| **Guest: **Well then :) |=| **Artistia:** I really like Irina as a character as well, so I hated doing this to her. I'm still on the fence about another Twilight story, but I might have one, just as less of a priority and hopefully not as long as this story ended up being. I have the naissance of an idea, so it's not completely gone, but I'm still not too sure about it. You're spot on about the siblings' bond; it's almost like why Irina stayed alive for so long without dying earlier, but much more powerful. If Demetri or Renata were to die, the twins would be inconsolable but not Marcus-level-sad. If Isabella were to die, they would probably directly walk into an active volcano, which would stimulate Demetri and Renata to die as well. Basically, killing one of the siblings would destroy the guards in general. The end of the story might not be as conclusive as you like... And yep, Nessie looks more like what Isabella looked like as a child with Ben's darker skin tone and hair color, pretty much. Kristen and Edward don't really feature in her genetics. Probably not scientifically accurate, but I do what I want :P Your side note is almost exactly what Isabella thinks in this chapter, so maybe you're psychic, who knows. |=| **I am in Loki's Army:** Don't keep your dog waiting! xD Thanks! |=| **Twilightrocks (Guest): **Only a little more to go! |=| **oxymoron8: **All of this and more in this episode :P And Moon Moon was the highlight of 2013, in my book. || **I am the Story Teller: **Benjamin will learn not to get in the way of an overprotective older sister now :P And the twins are always constantly giving Isabella heart attacks, so they're used to scaring people, I guess. Edward is a peasant. He has always been a peasant and he will always be a peasant. Sorry not sorry. Ooh, Norway? You're so far from me D: (I'm currently typing this out in sunny California) (no seriously there's a ray of sunlight on my computer screen and it's really annoying) (it's supposed to be winter you plebeian sun) That should be my title on my profile xD I will speak to you at the next (and final!) update. |=| **Rusky01: **I really like T. S. Eliot, okay? xD Also I tied it back into the first couple of chapters, with the siblings 'narration'. Siblings have always had the strongest bond to me, when I see them; two of my friends are brother and sister and while they tear each other apart on a daily basis you can still see that they love each other. So why should a silly mate get in between that? |=| **Happy. Death. Executioner. **Thanks! Battle scenes are NOT my forte. |=| **Alice Alessa: **Well, this reply's going to take a while. Kate and Tanya are too perceptive for their own good, honestly. That ant metaphor is quite relevant in this case as well. It also relates back to Jane's odd penchant for burning them with glass fragments. The mate reveal got people really excited and sent the review count over 400 xD Nessie was a lot of fun to come up with because she is in fact a rather crafty little thing. I really like the Egyptians; they were among my favorite characters just from the very human way that they interacted with everyone else. I haven't seen any Twilight movie after _New Moon_ (I got rather turned off of them with that movie) but I have seen pictures. Let's all agree that Rami Malek doesn't look at all like a fifteen-year-old. Benjamin's like the light in the darkness for everyone. Renesmee's sped-up maturing process leads to a more mature mind as well, so she's not frozen in the middle of her development. Kristen thinks that since she _just_ gave birth to Nessie, Nessie _must _be a baby. The wonders of blissful ignorance. I had to think about the 'Edwin' and 'Carlolly' things for just a tad too long, but those names are pretty funny. Kristen and Alice were meant to be a really odd sort of sisterly bond-like thing, but I just went SCREW IT and made it a thing. Surprise pairings are abound in this story, I have to agree. Agh, high hopes? I'm happy I managed to meet them o_o I was always going to have all five of those specific elite guards come up with Demetri and Felix, but the other witnesses on the Cullen side were always going to be in the air, so I just added Benjamin there to make it quicker. Originally, they were going to meet while battling. And Renesmee is a curious being who finds people like Isabella and Benjamin fascinating, so why not make the bond happen? Carlisle does not get a lot of love in this story, I'll be honest. I don't hate his character, I just don't think that he'd have such a good relationship with the Volturi over time. I'm not sure how the others didn't notice their little exchange. Let's just say that they didn't know what to expect from Nessie and just accepted it :P The thing between Felix and Garrett would probably be like a lion cub fighting with their father; one just isn't putting in the effort it takes to defeat the other. Comic relief is good in rather stressful situations. Isabella is a strong independent female who don't need no mate, just her siblings. Isabella's number one priority has been and always will be Jane and Alec. John is my favorite character, in real life and not. The guy he was based off of got a lot of 'dammit John, you had one job' from the rest of us. As for replying to reviews (oops this is already monstrously long), I just have a document open and the reviews window open and I type as I read, so it's no huge problem. It's fun replying to these :D And all of the errors and inconsistencies you pointed out have by this point been fixed. |=| **VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: **:3 |=| **BadAssTwilightGirls: **I wouldn't necessarily call it _epic_ xD |=| **Maiannaise: **John is a trickster. His antics are supposed to be both annoying and hilarious xD |=| **Guest: **Speculation, speculation~ Benjamin didn't really notice Jane, to be honest, he just thought of saving Isabella without thinking, so he is sort of innocent, but yeah. If Isabella was in her right mind, she might have thrown him onto the fire he caused himself :P

* * *

Edward watched as the crowds backed away, making the circle larger. Felix herded the rest of the Cullens into the circle as well, and their witnesses joined the inner circle of the crowd. Renesmee stood with Tanya and Kate, confused by the proceedings. None of them had sympathetic looks on their faces. He really didn't expect any. He didn't expect any mercy whatsoever.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, first creation of Carlisle Cullen, we try you for disobedience against the most fundamental of vampiric law. We believe you guilty of tearing apart three mated pairs and failing to change this newborn as quickly as you promised to. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty," Edward spat out, finding some dredge of fighting instinct within himself. Isabella could hear his covenmates, who Alec had incapacitated after Felix pushed them in, sigh at his stubbornness. The little girl looked confused as her entire family struggled to move their arms and legs.

"Why don't you get up, aunt Alice?" she asked, keeping up the pretense of family with them.

Alice looked at the child distastefully. "Because I can't, okay? Our legs and arms and pretty much our entire bodies won't listen to us at this point."

Renesmee blinked, confused. "Why not?"

"Because of me," Alec said. "Now hush, please. Aro needs to continue this trial and make sure it ends quickly and quietly."

The kings had been politely waiting for the external conversation to die down, and once Alec nodded at them to continue, they did so. "Why do you plead not guilty?" Caius asked.

Edward had been watching his daughter, who frankly didn't seem to care that he was being tried and possibly killed. "I didn't do anything wrong. I was told to claim my mate and fight for her with all of my being. I was told that doing so would result in my happiness, like my father and mother. Like Carlisle and Esme. The way that he claimed her."

"And while doing so, you subjected three other vampires to a hell with your selfish actions," Marcus intoned, eyes narrowing.

"What are you talking about?" Edward spat. "I have no idea what you mean!"

Maisie squirmed. She and Bree were standing with their respective 'fathers' and she couldn't stand it anymore. Her head felt like it was about to explode.

"He lies! He lies, he lies, he lies!" she screamed, clasping her ears with her hands and wincing. Jasper materialized out of anywhere (Alice looked at him pass, but didn't feel anything) and quickly embraced her, whispering encouraging words into one of her clasped ears. Slowly, she began to calm down.

Aro leveled a cool gaze at a flustered Edward. "Well?"

"I-I know of one pair I willingly destroyed," he admitted grudgingly. "But he threatened my mate!"

"She's obviously not your mate," Caius said dryly. "From what I notice, she hasn't looked at you once."

Kristen was, of course, more concerned with Alice's well-being than the trial that was happening. She didn't even seem to notice how Renesmee was trying to ask her a question.

Alec and Jane noticed, though. They exchanged a look before Jane stepped forward.

"Hi, your name is Nessie, right?" she asked softly. Kristen glared at her but shrank back from Jane's cold look.

"Yeah! I'm Nessie!" the girl said, oblivious to the tension.

"Do you want to talk to my brother with me? We promise not to hurt you," Jane asked as kindly as she could.

"Sure!" Nessie chirped. Jane led her over to Alec, who greeted her just as warmly and began asking after her well-being.

It was an odd sensation for Nessie. These two vampires had shown her more care than her family had for her entire life. She liked these two. They weren't like the nice man from the Cairene coven or the woman that the twins were always with. They seemed more like real people too. They acted the way Lizzie and Jacob acted with each other, but not in the same lovey-dovey kind of way that Nessie had seen in them. Nessie decided that she wanted to stay with the twins.

Isabella had walked up to them at this point. "You two seem to have a little lost bird in your midst," she said in an amused voice.

"Isabella!" Jane grumbled. Alec snickered at his twin's discomfort. "Shut it, Alec."

Isabella rolled her eyes and looked past the twins. "Hello, Nessie." She wrinkled her nose slightly. "It's a rather unfortunate name you've got. It's the name of a fabled monster in Scotland."

Nessie nodded reluctantly. "Jacob told me that," she said conversationally.

"Did he now?" A nod. "Is Jacob the big dog that you were riding before?"

"He's not a dog! He's a wolf!" Nessie said.

"Well, do you know what's better than riding on a wolf?" Jane asked slyly.

Renesmee shook her head, eyes wide.

"Riding a vampire," Jane said with a smirk. She picked up Renesmee quickly, shushing her when the dhampir gave a little squeak of surprise, and put her on Demetri's back.

Demetri didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. Nessie was frantically trying to latch onto his cloak somehow as she felt herself sliding off. "Careful!" Demetri said, grabbing Nessie's significantly warmer hands and holding them around his neck to ensure that she was okay. Nessie's eyes widened as Demetri carefully supported her legs with one arm and secured her hands with the other.

Demetri glared slightly at his snickering mate. "Jane, really?" he asked, not sounding annoyed at all.

"Yep! Maybe she'll want to ride Felix next," Jane responded, laughing slightly. Isabella sighed before she carefully picked Nessie up from Demetri's back (he cast her a thankful glance) and holding her in her left arm. Nessie leaned her head on Isabella's shoulder, which supported it perfectly.

Fortunately for the elite guards, no one had noticed what was going on except for one burgundy-eyed vampire. Edward's head was bowed as the kings described exactly what he had done.

"You first seduced a human girl just because you couldn't read her mind and she was your singer. You heard of how mates oppose one another and just decided that the human was your mate without consulting her once. You tried to play God over her life, telling her which friends she could be with and which ones she had to leave as quickly as possible. You didn't let her live her normal life peacefully. You exposed the vampire's strength and speed to her, though I commend that it was to save her life. And yet, the more subconscious urge to make sure no one else smelled her blood must have also played a part in that."

Edward tried to interrupt Caius, but Aro gave him a stern look before continuing. "You incited war with another vampire but didn't inform us of the war itself, or why. You didn't report the newborn army. You didn't change the girl in the time limit that we gave you to change her."

"You killed a tracker called James, leaving his mate Victoria alone to stew and plot her revenge. When she targeted you, you did not tell her that the human wasn't really your mate. When she left one newborn behind, you tried to recruit her without teaching her the vampiric laws first. You had a forbidden treaty with the shifters of La Push, forbidden not because we don't allow treaties but because you didn't inform us. This treaty resulted in the death of another male, who had by that time found his mate. And through it all, you kept the human girl close to you and not with her true mate," Marcus concluded.

"Any words, Edward?" Aro asked coldly.

"Who am I to believe is my mate, then?" he asked quietly, despairingly.

"We do not know, Edward," Marcus said. "I may even venture to say that they haven't been born yet. Many vampires wait millennia before they meet their mates, or at least a couple hundred years. Many of our guards haven't met theirs yet; another met hers after seven hundred years." (Nahuel and Lenna exchanged a secret smile) "It is all a matter of time. You must be patient. And changing a human may not always be the best option, though it has worked out other times." (Damian squeezed Gianna's hand furtively).

Edward hung his head, eyes closed. "But now I will never meet mine," he said dully.

"Yes," Aro said bluntly. "You are now to die for your crimes. So I ask you again: do you plead guilty?"

"Yes," Edward whispered out.

"Anything from the coven?" Caius asked, narrowing his eyes at the golden-eyed vampires.

"Actually, yes," Carlisle said, trying to stand but making do with a burning glare. "How dare you come here and tell us what we are and aren't to do! Do you think that just because you are the leading coven you can make other vampires abide by your laws?"

"Stand down, Carlisle," Caius responded coldly. "All vampires have agreed to abide by the laws. The laws your _son_ broke are two of the most fundamental laws that we uphold. If his _daughter _ended up being an immortal child somehow, then that is the third and final. He will have destroyed the very code that our society is based on. Do you want Olympia coven to be known as the coven that caused the entire vampiric community to fall?"

"You're being ridiculous," Carlisle said, regaining control of his temper. "Just because we don't drink from humans-"

"That is not our concern. You could drink from trees for all we care," Caius said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "What is our concern is that you violated the mate bond clause, that if one mate is destroyed the other is to be destroyed along with them, and the human clause, that no human should know about the vampire life until it is too late. On top of that, you left said human behind, heartbroken and seething. You should feel lucky that the person she turned to was just as involved in the supernatural world as we are, and that he wasn't even another human at all. He kept our secret far better than you have. You are disgraces to our society, but technically, your _son_ broke the laws, not you. He will be set aflame, you won't."

"Carlisle, stop," Esme said, her voice sounding more commanding than any of the vampires had ever hear her speak before. "The Volturi know what is best. They have lived millennia longer than we have."

Carlisle cast his eyes to the ground, incapable of disobeying his mate.

"Edward, you have acknowledged your crime. Therefore, we need not do this the painful way."

Aro beckoned Damian forth. Isabella knowingly blocked off everyone's mind but Edward's; they would only hear the beckoning melody, not feel the agonizing black hole that it created within any of its true listeners. She nodded to the Asian-Italian. Damian took a breath and began to sing.

The Song of Death was a peculiar thing, and the only reason why Damian was a Protected rather than an elite guard was because his gift was so exhausting that even the slightest physical activity could put it into jeopardy. There were two different ways of using it; one, the immobilizing screech Damian used earlier out of rage, the other the torturing execution style death that Edward was soon to face. It did not destroy the body. It killed the mind, leaving the figure incapable of feeling. The Song slyly coaxed the victim's soul to slowly dissipate. For that, Damian had to be wary of speaking to others. Only Gianna had a sort of immunity to the Song. Isabella's constant shield protected the rest of the guards, and the occasional visitor.

But now, Damian was weaving a melody so enticing that even Carlisle was looking up. The leaves around Edward's knees kicked up at the force of the song. As Damian slowly stopped singing, Edward slumped over. When he looked back up somehow, his eyes were completely blank. He was dead in all definitions of the word.

When the other vampires had imagined death by execution, they imagined Jane spearing their minds with her most powerful 'pain's or Alec choking them with his gift. They imagined Felix tearing them apart, Demetri hounding their steps until they were dragged into the Castle. They imagined Lilianna zooming past them, taking off a different body part each time, or Isabella looking on with that cold sneer of hers, clawing everything off with her fingers and making it look like some kind of a dance. They thought of Corin keeping them completely happy as Santiago sliced thin pieces of flesh off with his razor-sharp talons. They never imagined someone singing something so pure and sweet as a lullaby, yet haunting as a dirge. They never imagined slipping away in such a dignified manner. Even for Edward, who had broken two key rules.

Carlisle looked at the dead eyes of his son and began to sob. Edward even turned to look at him, not with the caring confusion that Carlisle would have imagined on his face, but a jarring blankness that promised no feeling. Edward's body only responded to the external stimulus; he didn't feel anything because of it. It was heart-wrenching to Carlisle to even witness. Esme bit back her own sobs. Emmett and Rosalie looked on with eyes as blank as Edward's, though with a hint of pain and sadness darting through their pupils. Alice and Kristen looked on with equal parts despair and relief. Renesmee didn't seem to care at all.

Caius's hand flicked out of his pocket and flung something that glowed at Edward. The dead vampire didn't make any screams as he burned to ash amongst plumes of lilac smoke. Kristen even took her ring off and flung it into the flames.

The witnesses that had gathered felt ready to scream as they saw how silent he was. It was disturbing, to see the once animated corpse burn without any protests, protests that they knew Edward would have flung out without a whim.

The gathered vampires watched the body of Edward Anthony Masen Cullen burn.

Once he was reduced to powder, Aro carefully captured it in a small yet ornate glass bottle. He managed to get most of the ash in before the bottle filled and he carefully corked it.

"Jane," he beckoned, holding out a hand. Rather than taking it, the almost-blonde guard dropped a permanent pen into it. He uncapped it deftly and wrote Edward's name onto the bottle.

"Carlisle, this is for you to do whatever you wish. You are the coven leader. I expect you to take care of this yourself."

Alec gave Carlisle enough feeling back to clumsily swipe the bottle out of the air when Aro threw it towards the blond patriarch.

"I will," Carlisle responded, voice full of pain.

Marcus cleared his throat as the air began to fill with the others' murmurs. "To the rest of the Olympia coven, I ask a simple question. What do you wish to do now? I see that many of your bonds have been broken, and that new ones have formed."

Rosalie and Emmett looked at each other. The female spoke up. "We have been asked to join the Cairene coven. After talking to them, it is an opportunity that we'd like to take. For at least a century, we will live in Egypt. We have also consulted Amun about switching our diet; we need some assistance in learning how to find the, quote en-quote, 'dregs of society'."

She and Emmett staunchly ignored Carlisle's pained whispers begging them not to leave him too.

"Very well. Your bond is sound. Alec, release them."

The mentioned guard did, and the couple rose to shaky legs and walked over to their new coven. Benjamin smiled halfheartedly at them before looking back over to the elite guards. By this point, they were splitting their attention between Renesmee and the actual court proceedings. Isabella had somehow woven the autumn leaves on the ground together to make a kind of wreath that she perched on top of Nessie's head, complementing the dark brown curls that bounced jauntily with every one of the girl's giggles. Jane was joking with the little girl and Alec seemed to be rolling his eyes at almost everything his twin said. Demetri was trying to get Jane to hush, and Felix just observed with a wide smile on his face. Benjamin hadn't seen Renesmee look so at home among her own flesh and blood. _Or venom_, he thought with an internal smirk. Maybe Jane would like the remark.

After the silence within the circle of vampires, another couple spoke up.

"W-we have been asked to join the Denali coven," Alice whispered. Aro's eyes flickered over to her and Kristen's forms on the ground. "We will join our once-cousins in whatever endeavors they wish to do."

"Very well. Join your new sisters and brother," Caius said with a nod to Alec. Soon, the two teenage girls were standing with Tanya and Kate.

"I'd hate to break the awkwardness, but it's brother_s_ now." Garrett nonchalantly walked through the center of the circle to throw an arm around Kate's shoulders. "This is my mate. I would say her name, but she'd shock me from the stupid rhyme the way she always does."

A rumble of laughter erupted from the guards and some of the other witnesses. "Very well, Garrett," Marcus said, chuckling himself. "They will join their new sisters and brother_s_." He made sure to emphasize the 's'.

Carlisle watched his coven dissipate. "Is that everyone?" he asked hoarsely.

"What about Nessie?" Jane called out. Everyone turned to see the girl in Isabella's arms, the wreath still perched on her head, leaves woven into her hair, looking in all the world like a faerie nestled in her own place in paradise.

"Nessie! Renesmee, come to momma!" Kristen called out. A low growl emanated from Isabella, who suddenly cut off looking a bit perplexed.

"Don't wanna!" Nessie called back. "And my _name_ is _Nessie_!"

"Renesmee, don't misbehave, now," Kristen said, trying to get some authority in her cracking voice. "Come here, I said!"

"Don't wanna!"

"_Renesmee!_"

"YOU'RE NOT MY REAL MOM!" the dhampir shouted, burying her tiny form as far into Isabella's arms as she could.

All of the mumbling that had started up died down completely. All the vampires could hear was the wind rustling the trees. John turned into a little songbird and tried singing to lower the tension. Lilianna smacked him back onto the ground as he tried to fly into the sky.

"Well then," Aro said, finally. "I guess our little Nessie has made her own choice."

Kristen looked at Aro disbelievingly. "But I'm her mom," she said, sounding helpless and almost relieved again.

"Not to vampiric intuition," Marcus said. "The parental bond has not formed between your birth-child and you. She had another set of parents."

"Set? What are you on about, Marcus?" Isabella asked, holding Renesmee more securely. If she was really this little girl's mother, her first order of business was to change that stupid name.

"You'll see, my apprentice. But you should know already, no?"

That cemented it for Isabella, who actually smiled at him. It was the first genuine smile he had seen for centuries, and for that reason he already loved Renesmee.

Benjamin felt his core lurch. Parental bond? His mate, this Isabella, was bonded to Renesmee as a mother? Would that make him..?

Aro clapped his hands to regain attention. "Please. We have sorted out what will happen to Olympia coven, and this means that we have sorted out our main duties today. To anyone else whose loyalties have shifted, please let a guard know so we can record it once we get back to the Castle. Please remember, you are always welcome. Do not bring your petty issues; those are for you to fix. However, anything of this magnitude should not happen for another few centuries. We exist to serve you. You exist to serve us. It is a mutual relationship.

"Guards, we stay for ten more minutes. Please sort out any remaining differences and come to us after you have finished."

The formal atmosphere finally dissipated as the witnesses saw the Volturi guard relax and humanize, even. The ones with oddly bluish cloaks immediately took them off, running their fingers through their hair and stretching their necks. They gave the cloaks to any guards who were passing by before mingling with their friends. Peter, Makenna, Charlotte, and Charles all went over to congratulate Garrett on his finding his mate. They shook hands with Kate, accepting the pain challenge that Garrett had done as well before running off to who-knows-where. Nahuel and Huilen walked over to Zafrina, talking in low voices, before gesturing Lenna over and introducing them. Lenna then went rushing over to Demetri to hug him.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" he deadpanned.

"Demetri, I've chosen to leave Volterra." Demetri's eyes widened comically. "I can't ask Nahuel to give up his culture, it's all he knows. You've got Jane and all of the elites; he's only got Huilen. I don't want to tear him away from her."

"Len, I get it, but you better send me a letter whenever you can."

She grinned, venom tears welling in her eyes. "I plan to, doofus," she said, lightly punching his upper arm before hugging him more ferociously still, backing away, and running back to Nahuel.

Nessie found herself being flung into the air by Felix. She giggled with joy, screaming for "More! More!" as Isabella watched with a smile.

"I would have expected you to freak out more, seeing as she's your _kid_," an unknown voice said behind her.

Isabella turned to see the tanned vampire from before. His burgundy eyes bore into her crimson ones and she felt herself unable to move.

"Well, she deserves to have fun, right?" Isabella managed to say. The male in front of her chuckled at that. She felt herself almost fill up with that laugh. Oh God, what was wrong with her?!

"I hope she'll always have that fun in her life," he commented.

"Mm. I'm sorry, who are you again?"

His smile deflated slightly, but he just held out a hand. "Benjamin. Cairene coven."

She raised an eyebrow. "Isabella. Volturi elite," she replied, taking his hand and shaking it. She felt a spark spring out of their hands; it almost illuminated her. He looked just as taken aback.

"What the hell?" he said, eyes wide.

She shrugged. "That's never happened before," she said nonchalantly, trying to push away how flustered she felt. This stupid male was conjuring _feelings_ within her, feelings that she never thought a male could make her feel.

"Maybe it's a mating thing," Benjamin said before realizing exactly what he said.

Isabella froze. She watched Felix pass Renesmee off to Jane, who put the girl on her shoulders and ran around the clearing at vampire speed. "Maybe," she said softly, after a pause that was just a second too long.

Benjamin turned to her, biting his lower lip. "W-would you be willing to see if it is?" he asked. Why, oh why, dear Re, was he stuttering now? It made no sense to stutter in this situation.

"I can't leave my siblings," she answered automatically.

"Then I'll join you," he replied just as quickly. Isabella felt her breath catch in her throat. No one had ever sacrificed something so large as their family, their way of life to her before. The lives of the humans she drank didn't really count.

"Are you serious? You have a family too!" she said heatedly.

"And you are more important," he said simply. She was taken aback again.

"No one's said that to me before," she muttered, pulling a hand through her hair. She looked at the single strand that had slipped out and was now wrapped around her fingers.

"Seriously? No one? Even your siblings?" Benjamin asked, incredulous.

"We are all of equal importance," she answered, sounding almost offhand. She knew that if it were someone else asking, she would have gotten much more angry about the implication that she was more valuable than Jane or Alec. Somehow, she couldn't get angry at this male.

Benjamin thought about her words. She was of equal importance. She never viewed herself as higher than anyone else. It was almost noble to think about.

At that precise moment, Jane came running up with Nessie in tow.

"Up, mom!" Nessie said cheerfully. The three vampires blinked in surprise at the easy way Nessie called Isabella her mother, but Isabella picked her up anyhow, allowing Nessie to fuss about in her arms and get comfortable. She blinked before hanging herself upside down off of Isabella's arm and giggling.

"Hi dad!" she said just as joyously. Now the vampires were flabbergasted.

"Does she mean me?" Benjamin asked faintly. Isabella was barely able to nod.

"Does that mean that you two are..?" Jane asked, trailing off as her finger pointed from one to the other. The two other vampires glanced at each other.

"If you mean to say 'mates,' Janie, then yes," Isabella said after a moment of silence.

Jane blinked. "Well, it's about time, sis," she said with a smirk before flouncing away, probably to tell Alec. "And don't call me that!" she shouted out as she left.

"I'm never going to hear the end of it from her," Isabella muttered. Benjamin just chuckled as he looked at his daughter, still flopped over in Isabella's arms and smiling cheekily.

His daughter. His mate. Nothing else in the world ever sounded quite so right.

* * *

**haha cuties. Nessie's still as immature as a child.  
**

**Wow. Next chapter is the last chapter. And it's slated to come out December 31. I told you that I'll finish this fiction with 2014 :D I've got quite a bit to say next time, so most of the update will probably have an extensive A/N, but please bear with me, because we're not quite done yet!**

**~Shriayle**


	56. Syzygy: Tomorrow is Here

**Well. This is it. The last chapter. Sorry it's shorter than usual.  
**

**For anyone curious, my next few story ideas have been posted on my profile. Before you ask, yes, I do have another Twilight story coming up, no, it's not a sequel. Again, it will not be heavily based in romance, and I'm fairly certain that the Volturi will be seen in a good light again. It's just how I roll.**

**This format seemed to work for me last time (?) so...**

**REPLIES:**

**Arabella Whitlock:** Nessie was made to be cute in this fic, just because she's a lot happier and there needed to be some more genuinely innocent and light-hearted people. John and Benjamin aren't enough :P |=| **YunaNeko: **(y) |=| **Goddess Cure Mystic: **Guess who's dead, dead again; Eddie's dead, tell your friends :P |=| **rinlovesyou (Guest): **Their family is my favorite thing in the world :3 |=| **Maiannaise: **These guys deserve some 'aww' in their lives after all of this hardcore stuff. |=| **VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: **I will not be doing a sequel to this story. My reasons are listed in the letter that follows this chapter. |=|** Artistia: **That's totally Miss Alice Alessa with this story xD I'm okay with plots being discovered, but I guess it's nice to be able to reveal something in a dramatic, flashy way. I personally like Nessie's new name, though any name would be better than Renesmee, I think. Yay last chapter is here :P But this story will continue updating rather quickly, I must say that. |=| **Rusky01: **Edward was the main source of tension in everywhere. I mean, the Cullens too, but they've been cut up and shipped out xD |=| **I am in Loki's Army: **Well, spoiler alert, but my profile has all of the stories I expect to come out in a couple of months, so... And Carlisle could have died here, but I felt bad for Esme. |=| **Fanfictionlover124: **It was nice having you along for the ride :) |=| **Guest (1): **To be honest, that was my original intention. I didn't want Isabella to have a mate to begin with. And then the rest of these little nards (I love all of you, don't get me wrong xD) just kept reviewing "IS [ISA]BELLA GOING TO HAVE A MATE?!" and even when I didn't reply "I BET HER MATE WILL BE [INSERT RANDOM NOMAD'S NAME HERE]!" and it got really annoying and it wasn't a big deal to make Benjamin her mate so I just decided, "YOU GUYS WANT A MATE, TAKE YOUR FREAKING MATE. HE DOESN'T EVEN MATTER TO PLOT." So. And I can't believe you've read this little story so many times ahhhhhh *-* No, there will not be a sequel. I can't imagine a new plotline for these lovelies, as much as I'd like to. They've had their time in the limelight; it's time for them to take a break. |=| **death2luv (Guest): **That is one loud shriek. Unfortunately, this must be the end of the story. |=| **Guest (2): **You guys should distinguish yourselves, geez. The Harry Potter story that I wanted to do... there were a couple, now that I think of it. But yes, the Harry Potter fandom requires many details that I will have much fun studying in the future, but for now, I plan to focus on the three stories whose ideas have been flying about my head. About 40,000 words of this story is devoted to A/Ns and replies, funny enough; I've been keeping careful count of the words. Sadly, all things must come to an end. I have not heard that song, but I did used to reside in the imperial state of New York and know many songs of that land. ALSO LUNA IS A QUEEN AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T THINK SO IS IGNORANT AND MUST BE TAUGHT OTHERWISE. |=| **AgitatedDog9288: **It's had a good run. |=| **I am the Story Teller: **Edward has been and always will be a peasant. And Nessie's too cute to not have an amazing family like this one. Also that seems very cold where you are. I don't know exactly how cold, but it's probably negative in Fahrenheit and that is not fun. Damian is another character somewhat based on my friends, though the Damian that I know isn't Korean and doesn't sing. He just plays a LOT of different instruments, mostly wind instruments, which translated into a deadly way of using sound in my opinion. But this story's Damian is also rather fragile as he can't use any energy for fear of losing his voice. In my head, when he's in the Castle, he communicates with a whiteboard so he doesn't accidentally knock someone out with his voice :P Cocoa is good, we just drink it to drink it. Jane is only good with family; everyone else can go crawl in a hole and die and she probably wouldn't notice/care. |=| **bao-earthdragon: **I might create my characters, but I have no control over them. I can't force them to do anything that they don't want to. And Alec's the huggy person in that odd family, in that he's willing to but whether or not he actually will is up to how he feels. Isabella wasn't supposed to get a mate, as her siblings would be enough, but a bunch of reviewers kept requesting a mate so I just made the mate completely unimportant. Renesmee was supposed to join the Volturi as a surrogate little sister to the siblings' threesome. The most common Twilight clichés that I've noticed are 'Bella goes to Volterra in New Moon and mates on a king/guard' and 'rewriting Twilight with a bamf Bella that don't need no man'. I don't really read Naruto, but I can relate to those Harry Potter clichés. They are sometimes just way too much. I've read fanfiction very casually for four years, but more intensely/for researchy things for only this past year. Those stories are more based in fanon than canon, which is sad I guess. And yes! I plan on drawing them all together, along with an accompanying height diagram. Not sure when that will be posted, as it is rather hard to do a height diagram (ugh) but it will be fun. The list of characters will come next, and it's a lot more in-depth than the one that Stephenie Meyer provided. |=| **Isabella Marie Whitlock8890: **Glad to have you available while I'm still responding to everyone xD I'm the same way with many of the stories I follow. Nessie's a lovely character that was babied far too much in canon for me to stand (and Alice turned her into a doll, for heaven's sake), so I made her have a slight attachment to her real parents. |=| **Alice Alessa: **I have to make up for the seriousness of the last 54 chapters somewhere :P Esme should probably get more sympathy than anyone else in the Cullens, but she was always one of the Cullens I preferred so who am I to judge. I watched _Twilight_ so I could see what the big fuss was about and then _New Moon_ to try and finish the series (needless to say, I fell asleep after the Volterra portion). I was thinking about watching _Breaking Dawn_ just because Volturi, but then decided against it. Michael Sheen, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Christopher Heyerdahl needed more screen time in my opinion... And I was trying to make that group split, so yay, I guess. And YES BIG BANG THEORY REFERENCE. Accurate BBT reference, at that. Nessie's youth is something that is either overemphasized or underemphasized in the canon series, so I tried my hardest to bring her out of her lonely world with Kristen and into a more childhood-like one with Isabella. And reading suggestions? If you're thinking about fanfiction wise, I only know a couple of Harry Potter fics that I really like (namely 'The List') and one Detective Conan ('Moonlight Magician', which is also currently my only favorite), but literature wise, _Equus_ and _The Glass Castle_ are always good xD Oh, and Svren. Svren's stories are nice. If you want to read more of my writing, you can glance at my profile to see when new stories are being released and what their plotlines are. And your long reviews were beautiful :D Au revoir~~

* * *

There really wasn't too much left to say in the story. Only Carlisle and Esme remained in the Olympia coven, and whether or not they would take in new members from the dying human population again was as yet to be seen. The other members learned that they were to drink human blood, but they would be taught how to pick prey and carefully weed out the weak from cities. Kristen and Alice in particular were appalled by the lifestyle. They had been so sure that the Denalis drank from animals. Learning that the Alaskan coven in fact did not enjoy drinking animal's blood and drank from humans instead was an unwelcome surprise for them. The Volturi guard went home after bidding Lenna a farewell and Benjamin a hearty welcome. Isabella was sure to chew Marcus out for not telling her about the possible mate she would find in the clearing that day. The other two kings watched amusedly as Isabella's first fervent whispers gradually evolved into a shouting that none of the guards could pretend not to hear. Nessie thought it the most amusing thing in the world.

Nessie was another matter that the guards made sure to rectify. Knowing that her gift was hardly violent and she wasn't old enough to learn the fine art of combat, the kings made her a protected, where she met Maisie. After hearing Maisie's horrific story and learning how she changed her name, Nessie began to bug Isabella about getting a different name herself.

"My other mom wanted to call me that name, and I really didn't like it," the little girl said, trying to convey exactly what she wanted, "so could you give me a different one? Maybe one that I can still be called Nessie with?"

"I'll think about it," Isabella had responded, distracted.

It was the best that Renesmee could hope for.

The dhampir was excited with her life. She learned that the speed the guards travelled at was so great, she couldn't possibly keep up with her still growing limbs. She was allowed to be either carried or to ride on one of the guards for now, until she finished growing and could stay with the rest of the group. As the group of vampires slowly made their way back, dividing by their cloak-ranks, Renesmee was seen riding on the back of a large black wolf, whose tongue lolled out to one side and golden eyes glimmered with amusement. Isabella had just rolled her eyes again, but she trusted John to keep Renesmee safe.

They arrived back at the Castle, which Benjamin and Renesmee stared at with wonder-filled eyes. They had heard of the Castle, Benjamin especially as two of the Cairene coven had joined the Volturi, but they didn't expect it to be so beautiful or lively. Gianna swept back into her domain as a receptionist, her light grey cloak pinned carefully around her shoulders. The kings walked to their own back rooms, deciding that the vampiric population had had enough today and weren't going to come in to speak with them any time soon. The guards slowly trickled back into their rooms (Lilianna had just run in and jumped on her sofa for a while). Isabella opened the door to the room she knew she would share with Benjamin and Nessie now.

It had become far more home-like in the millennia that she had to develop it. There was a very carefully maintained fire in a fireplace she convinced Caius to let her build. It was surrounded by rock from all angles with iron fencing in front of it to prevent any sparks from flying out, so there was no way to even think about touching it, but it still cast a golden, warm glow across the rest of the room. She had engineered a method of dropping wood through a hole in the wall to keep the fire alight, and now she dropped in a match as well to make sure the dying flames didn't go out completely. The carpet remained the same, and an entire wall was lined with overflowing bookshelves. She had gotten a rather large and comfortable couch placed in front of the fire to watch the embers leap about joyously or to read something. A well-worn copy of _The Iliad_, the original Greek version that Athenodora had taught her to read from so long ago, was lying on the sofa, patiently open to the page Isabella was last reading. Next to the bookshelf, but not preventing access to it, was the grand piano that Isabella had decorated with ivory and mother-of-pearl, with a huge crate of carefully organized manila folders filled with music next to the bench. A portion of the bookshelf was dedicated to storing music as well. She had a bed too, just for show in case a human governing official had decided to visit the Castle. It was a crimson red (which amused Isabella) and sat just opposite of the piano, the sofa right in front of the head. A bamboo divider stood carefully between the sofa and the bed to ensure that there was some privacy for the person sleeping. There was a dresser and a mirror next to the foot of the bed, against the wall, where Isabella now stored her cloak in the top drawer. Two other drawers had been empty, not because Isabella foresaw Benjamin and Renesmee's arrival into her life, but because she just didn't have that many clothes. A collection of candles also stood on the dresser, one of which Isabella put into a holder and lit. There were a few other baubles as well: a decorative bottle of sand from Alec, a glass flower from Jane, a collection of replica canopic jars from Demetri (Benjamin examined this one a bit more carefully), a taxidermy snake from Felix. All odd little trinkets that many wouldn't understand but the guards all chuckled about.

Benjamin saw all of the empty space in the room, and the oddly low lighting. There was a single window in between the fireplace and where the bookshelves started, but that was the only natural lighting, and a curtain had been drawn over it. He noticed that the walls were mostly empty except for one picture, a picture of the Castle and its inhabitants that some unknown Renaissance artist had been commissioned to draw.

"All of this is yours?" he finally asked.

"That's exactly what I thought the first time I saw it," Isabella replied, drifting over to the piano as was her tendency to do. "It was expansive, much larger than the house that Jane, Alec and I lived in at first. I thought it was a massive joke. But here I am."

"Larger than your entire house? What kind of place did your parents make you live in?" Benjamin asked, slightly teasing. Nessie came bounding in after John dropped her off, laughing. She ran right up to Isabella and sat down on the piano next to her.

"My parents didn't exactly stay around too long after Jane and Alec were born," Isabella said, poking Nessie's nose with a smile.

Benjamin blinked. "Well, neither did mine, to be honest. My uncle raised me," he said.

"I raised my siblings, made them feel more welcome when the rest of the village didn't," Isabella said in a cursory manner. She unconsciously began to play something on the piano. It was a Mozart sonata of some sort; she couldn't remember exactly what kind.

"I wanna play something!" Nessie squealed, trying to replicate Isabella's swift finger movements. The little girl frowned as she couldn't grasp the concept quickly enough.

Isabella watched her daughter struggle to play with a slight smile. "Nessie, slow down." She leaned backwards to take a slim book from the bookshelf right behind her. "I'll teach you how to play. And we might even get you a violin or other instrument so you can try learning something else too."

"Can anyone else play anything?" Benjamin asked, leaning on the closed lid slightly.

She leaned over and swatted him off of her precious piano. "From what I know, Jane has almost perfected her skill on the flute and Alec is working on his cello. Alec was also thinking about trying to play bassoon, I think. And Aro is rather good at the lute, Heidi at the harp. We have more than enough time to spare to learn all of these things."

Benjamin gave her an impressed look. "See, outside of the Castle, we only hear about the 'tortures' that go on in here," he said casually, holding his hands up to demonstrate his quotation marks.

"You guys don't know anything about what goes on in here," Isabella said with a smirk. "See Nessie, this is a treble clef, and you read the notes here with the bottom line as E, this line as G, then B, then D, then F. You can have ledger lines too, where they go even higher or lower, but the notes are usually contained in here."

Benjamin watched his mate teach his daughter about the music she so loved and smiled.

* * *

Aro gave Benjamin a dark grey cloak that was only slightly lighter than the siblings'. His element manipulation was intriguing, far more powerful than the gifts on the lower guards, and the guard would only be stronger with him on the elites. Caius and Marcus approved of the cheery fellow.

Benjamin slid into the Volturi lifestyle surprisingly well. He got along with pretty much everyone, the opposite of the more stoic Isabella. He got along best with the other male elite guards, frequently helping John's many escapades, much to Isabella's chagrin. Sometimes, he even hooked Renesmee into joining in, which Isabella did not appreciate whatsoever.

Renesmee was another issue that Isabella decided to deal with quickly and smoothly. The girl had expressed disgust towards her name; why not change it?

"Change names? Now? Can I? Can I?" she babbled when Isabella brought up the topic.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you were a human child hyped up on sugar!" Isabella said, poking Nessie's cheek exasperatedly. The girl giggled. It had been another half a year since the confrontation with the now disbanded Cullens, and Nessie had continued to grow, albeit much more slowly. She now resembled a ten- or eleven-year-old girl, her hair always tied up because she refused to do much more than trim it. She had a bit of Benjamin's slightly darker complexion and Isabella's intelligent features, coupled with her mother's eyes and her father's smile. She was a surprisingly perfect combination of her vampiric parents, but was much more carefree than either.

"So when can I choose a name? When can I change it?" Nessie chirped.

"As soon as you have decided on a name that you like," Isabella said with a smile.

"Then right now? I've known a name for a couple months now!"

Isabella blinked. "You are very prepared for this moment, aren't you," she said, making her words sound more like a statement than a question. Nessie's head bobbed up and down, her ponytail jauntily flying out behind it.

"I like the name Anastasia," Nessie said.

"Isn't that the lost Russian princess?" Jane asked. She had just entered the game room where Isabella and Nessie were sitting, in search of her faithful pack of cards. She grimaced as she picked the cardboard box up. "One year, and there's still glue stuck on this thing."

"You never told me the story behind that, miss Jane," Nessie said, looking at the box with some level of curiosity.

"I'll tell you later. Or maybe Felix or John will," Jane said. "And don't call me a miss."

"Okay, Jane," Nessie said obediently. Jane just rolled her eyes at Nessie's wide-eyed, innocent expression.

"Little witch," the almost blonde vampire said, her lips curling into a smirk. She deftly took the cards out and began to swiftly shuffle them, her eyes never leaving Nessie's face.

"You never taught me how to do that, either," Nessie said with a pout.

"Anastasia, stop complaining," Isabella admonished with a slight smile. Nessie whipped her head around with a delighted expression.

"You mean..?" Isabella nodded to cut her off. Nessie squealed before hugging Isabella as tightly as she could and saying, "Thank you!" over and over again. She jumped off of the sofa and ran down the hall, searching for Benjamin.

"Anastasia?" Jane asked, amusedly confused.

"She wanted to change her name," Isabella said with a shrug. "I think it fits. She chose it herself, too. So why not?"

Jane shrugged in response. "Up for a game of speed?"

* * *

Life continues on in the heart of Volterra. Anastasia is growing up, and according to Nahuel's letters to us, she will reach the appearance of being seventeen before she stops growing and remains immortal. She's currently at the fourteen-year-old stage, and she's decided to try dyeing the tips of her hair completely black to make a statement. It does look rather fitting. John tried to convince her that red would look better, but she didn't want to look as though she soaked her hair in blood or something. There was a bit more happiness in her life as well; skittish, shy Bree ended up being Anastasia's mate, though they only just started the romantic aspect of their relationship. They were both fumbling through it; Bree hadn't gone out with anyone as a human and Nessie obviously didn't have a clue except that mates seemed to kiss a lot. It took a bit of convincing to get her to understand that the kissing wasn't the main part of the mating bond.

The Olympia coven doesn't cause any more trouble at all. Last we heard, they gained a couple of new members, saving them from the brink of death. The second time, Reina contacted them herself and told them where the human was and to change her, knowing that they wouldn't recognize her. She could tell that one was important to fate. And so she was. She was called Stephanie and was a third-year college student when turned. She was to become the historian of the vampiric world, apparently, with a vast memory and the capacity to see the histories surrounding someone, as long as they didn't have a mental shield surrounding them. Carlisle and Esme supported her through her newborn years, allowing her to choose if she would rather consume animal or human blood. Which she chose, we do not know.

The Denali coven had cut off all communication with the Olympia coven. They are still in Alaska, hunting humans, living far away from society. Kristen and Alice lead a peaceful life. The friendship between Kate and Kristen was rekindled, and now all act as sisters and brothers.

The Cairene coven stayed in the city, though they tended to live underground for the most part. According to Benjamin, the darker tone of his eyes came from a more easily assuaged thirst; they only needed to drink one human every two months without someone like Alec by their side. Kebi and Amun continued to keep their coven in one piece, welcoming the mate that Tia found for herself.

The Amazonians were happy to include Nahuel and Lenna into their coven. Demetri showed us Lenna's last letter; she spoke of learning Portuguese, of seeing ancient temples, of letting her skin sparkle in the light with no fear of being seen. She invited us to come visit. We might take her up on that offer.

The nomads have scattered to the winds; we know not of their activities. We don't need to. The Romanians are gone, and no rules have been broken. But we will continue to stand and watch for more shadowy uprisings, of more rule-breaking criminals that we and our fellow guards will deal with.

For we are the body snatchers. We are the unknown murderers. We are the saintly demons that descend during the Armageddon. We are the souls of those thought to be long since dead. We are the statues whose eyes seem to follow your every move as you walk across a room. We are the ones who live the life of a phoenix, fated to die and be reborn into a more powerful, dangerous form. We are the soul devourers, the dream eaters, the death defiers, the light snuffers. We are the blood drinkers. We are the vampires.

But we are also people, with lives and family and love.

We will always be watching, ensuring that humans don't know of our existences. We merely write in this book for those like Stephanie, for those that need to know our history.

If you are a human reading this, then beware.

You won't be leaving here.

Alive, anyways.

* * *

**why yes Stephanie's name is based on _Twilight_ author's name just with a different spelling and age, how did you guess**

**Wow. All together, this story ended up being about 346 pages on Microsoft Word and more than 150,000 words of pure story. I expected this to end at around 120,000 to be honest.**

**To those of you who came in the beginning and stayed until the end, or joined in at any point, thank you. To all of you lovely people who reviewed, I loved reading every one of your comments, and it was a pleasure to get to talk to you guys. I really want to list all of you, but that would take way too long. Thanks for being patient with this story and watching me grow as a writer with every word! And thanks for pointing out all of my inconsistencies because the LORD KNOWS I'm horrible with consistency.**

**As I wrote this, I became infatuated with the characters. I never intended to write another Twilight story after TLoaP was over, but now I've slowly been thinking about one where it's both more and not as AU as this AU got. I'm not sure how it would work out, but I have gotten an idea and I have slowly been fleshing it out, and it sounds like something I could write, but I'm still not sure. What I do know is that it wouldn't be my main story, as **_**A Thousand Cranes**_** is already looking to be massive. If you are a fan of **_**Percy Jackson and the Olympians**_** or you just want to see me write more, then be sure to follow that story once it comes out! I promise that it will be as good as this one, if not maybe even better. There might even be more romance in that one, who knows, though I have all of the ships sorted out already and I won't make so dramatic of a reveal as the one here with Benjamin. I've got another idea for a manga fanfic that I'd like to try out sometime as well, so I'm not too sure how much time I'll be able to devote to this other Twilight story, but I'll try and make it work.  
**

**Having said that, I will not be writing a sequel to this story. Before you all bring out your weaponized goods, let me explain myself. I cannot imagine another storyline that could possibly take place besides an episodic story that revolves around the happenings in Volterra. Those are EXTREMELY boring for me to write. My first priority in writing fanfictions is to be amused with the results, not to think that I _need_ to write my stories for my readers. I do tailor these stories quite a bit as it is, so there's always that, but a sequel to this story? Not coming from me. If you guys want to write your own sequels, go right ahead, just make sure to say it is a sequel to this story and send me a link so I can read them :D  
**

**But we're not done yet! There's still more than ten bonus featurettes to come! The first will be posted as soon as possible, as my first update of 2015~ It's not too big, not too small, and forced me to go back and reference my own story, haha. And there are always more stories coming, which will be previewed slightly in my profile a couple months to a half-a-year before I release them, so watch out for those.  
**

**As always, I love seeing your comments and I will most likely keep responding to them until the day that this story gets marked truly 'complete'.**

**Thank you!**

**~Shriayle**

**THE LIFE OF A PHOENIX: A **_**Twilight**_** fanfiction  
**

**END WORD COUNT: 167,540 words**


	57. Cast of Characters

**...this shouldn't have taken this long. And it's not even complete yet. Ugh.**

**I felt rather bad about leaving you with no updates for a solid week (and more!), so here's my WIP of the official character list! If you want to submit your own description for a character that I haven't completed yet, then either PM me or review with a completed one and I'll be sure to credit you :D then I hope you enjoy.**

**I can't give up on replies xD I love doing these too much, I guess. I am currently writing this from Death Valley, where it is about forty degrees colder than my home area. Brr. **

**The next extra should be posted tomorrow :)**

**REPLIES:**

**FairchildFangirl:** Aw, thanks :'D My next few stories are already exciting me, and they will be out VERY soon! From the way things look, they're going to be one heck of a ride, too. |=| **Rinlovesyou (Guest but I know who you are userwise haha): **Anastasia's a beautiful name that deserves credit where due. Not sure where Nessie found it, but... |=| **Fanfictionlover124: **If only I could be as carefree as you about rereading this xD I have a feeling there's about 1029842374239 continuity errors... |=| **jlove34: **Thanks for reading! Also I glanced at your stories and they seem rather amazing as well, so I might go and read through those later :D |=| **I am in Loki's Army: **Aww, making things official :') How long _have_ you been here, anyhow? Thirty chapters seems accurate. I glow with the honor of your presence (wow that sounds lame sorry) and Lenna and Lilianna thank you for their existence here. And your character plays quite a large role in _A Thousand Cranes_; and yes, this implies that I've already finished outlining that plotline HAHA I'm too easily excited. Bonus featurettes start NOW! |=| **Rusky01: **You are more amazing of a person than I! This is your first story? Whaaaaat?! I feel honored :D |=| **Maiannaise: **Yeeeeaahhh! It should update soon hopefully! I like starting stories with some kind of buffer, so it won't be right away, unfortunately, but it will be soon. |=| **NellieWolf123: **WHAT IT'S LATE I DON'T THINK SO YOU'RE ONE CHAPTER BEHIND, DEAR D: Personal favorite twific? I FEEL SO LOVED AHHH I know this isn't as amazing as the stories that win the Fandom Choice Awards and all of that, so that is an amazing thing for you to say :) |=| **sweetsouthernsongbird: **Juuuuust a little off of the original xD And the featurettes are a bit shorter than usual chapters and therefore easier to write. |=| **Guest: **Thank you for reading! |=| **Arabella Whitlock: **Thanks for coming with me :D Yes, well, the new fic will probably be updated a lot more sporadically than this fiction was, as it's not going to be a primary story at all. Here's to a good 2015, yeah? |=| **Eluno: **When I get to a part of a story that I really want to write, I really want to write it :D A lot of people are saying this is the best story they've read and it's making me feel really big-headed o/o I lurk on my phone and never review, too, so I feel your feels. And I hope you like a LOT of fandoms if you're reading my other stuff, as I don't plan on staying rooted in one place. |=| **Happy. Death. Executioner: **Thaaaaaaankssss :D |=| **VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: **There are a few more updates yet :P And thanks! I hope my unconventional ideas are still loved elsewhere. |=| **Twilightrocks (Guest): **Thank you for reading it :) |=| **Guest: **...maybe :P Whether it'll be a giant story with a more epic battle, I'm not sure, but...

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**Quick key-**

**COVEN**

**Character name: **hair, skin type, eye color, height; position in society/coven. Place turned (about what year), age when turned.

Circumstances of change:

Class of vampire: weapon, clairvoyant, protected, strategist, shield, mind-reader, empath, bonder, analgesic. (order from common to rare)

[NOTE: The rarity scale is based on the possibility that someone gets a certain class when changed. There are few clairvoyants maybe because they get some other class or because they never become immortal, for example. Weapons are rather common because there is a very strong survival instinct in humans that transfers into skills that can be used in life-or-death situations as a vampire] _(m/p; m for mental, p for physical._ This refers to if the target of the attack is the mind or the body. i.e. Jane's pain is all in the mind by forcing someone to relive transformation (or to feel as though they're burning if they're human) but Afton can actually force light to bend around him, making himself look invisible)

**Covens** are defined as a collection of vampires, two or more, that coexist with each other and usually migrate only when humans become suspicious. They remain in one place until that time. This can be from anywhere from months to years.

**Nomads** are defined as vampires, usually one or two, who travel together but are constantly moving, never really staying in one place for longer than two weeks.

**_(THESE LISTS ARE BASED ON THE END OF THE FICTION; MOST CHARACTERS IN THE ELITE GUARD WERE PART OF THE LOWER GUARD FOR A LOT OF THE REST OF THE STORY.)_**

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_**VOLTURI COVEN:**_

**Aro: **black shoulder-length hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'10"; one of the three Volturi kings, Sulpicia's mate, Didyme's brother. From ancient Greece (approx. 1300 BCE), turned when 23.

Circumstances: war victim, changed by scavenger on accident.

Class: mind-reader; capable of reading every thought at a single touch _(m)_

**Sulpicia: **long dark brown hair that reaches small of back, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'3"; Aro's mate and one of the three Volturi queens. From ancient Greece (approx. 700 BCE), turned when 15.

Circumstances: slave for barbarians, changed by Aro when beaten nearly to death.

Class: protected; can appear weak and garner anyone's sympathy _(m)_

**Caius: **white shoulder-length hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'9"; one of the three Volturi kings, Athenodora's mate, Maisie's 'father'. From ancient Rome (approx. 500 BCE), turned when 20.

Circumstances: nearly killed by werewolf, left to die, bitten by passing scavenger

Class: empath; can sense anger and fear _(m)_

**Athenodora: **long fair hair that just passes shoulders, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'8"; Caius's mate and one of three Volturi queens, Maisie's 'mother'. From ancient Cyprus (approx. 500 BCE), turned when 19.

Circumstances: unlucky prey of unknown vampire.

Class: strategist; can somewhat predict how a battle will turn out _(m)_

**Marcus: **long brown hair (more often tied back), crystalline skin, red-eyed, 6'; one of the three Volturi kings, Didyme's mate, Bree's 'father'. From ancient Greece (approx. 1300 BCE), turned when 19.

Circumstances: Met Didyme, chose to be changed by Aro

Class: bonder; can accurately read bonds_ (p)_

**Didyme: **long strawberry-blonde hair that reaches middle of back, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'6"; Marcus's mate and one of the three Volturi queens, Aro's sister, Bree's 'mother'. From ancient Greece (approx. 1320 BCE), turned when 18.

Circumstances: Aro came back once turned, she chose to follow him

Class: empath; can subtly make anyone happy _(m)_

_**VOLTURI ELITE GUARD:**_

**Felix: **short dark brown hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 6'7"; Heidi's mate. From Germanic lands (approx. 500), turned when 26

Circumstances: knight under lord, nearly speared through and left to bleed out, changed by Caius

Class: weapon; still has newborn strength _(p)_

**Charmion "Chelsea": **short light brown hair cut in a bob, crystalline skin, freckles, red-eyed, 5'3"; Afton's mate. From Greece (approx. 1100 BCE), turned when 22

Circumstances: wife of government official who was assassinated; Marcus stopped the assassinator from killing her.

Class: bonder; can break and mend bonds between two others _(m)_

**Isabella: **long mahogany hair that goes down to small of back, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'4"; Benjamin's mate, Jane's and Alec's older sister, Anastasia's 'mother'. From England (approx. 870), turned when 17

Circumstances: siblings were accused of being witches; ran into flames to cut them loose and lost consciousness from smoke inhalation. Changed by Marcus when she was found nearly dead.

Class: shield; can defend against any and all mental attack _(m)_

**Jane: **short pale brown (nearly blonde) hair cut in pixie cut, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'0"; Demetri's mate, Isabella's younger sister and Alec's twin sister. From England (approx. 870), turned when 15.

Circumstances: accused of being witch; burned at stake until Isabella cut her loose and Aro changed her

Class: weapon; can force another to feel the pain of transformation again _(m)_

**Alec: **short chestnut hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'1"; Renata's mate, Isabella's younger brother and Jane's twin brother. From England (approx. 870), turned when 15

Circumstances: accused of being witch; burned at stake until Isabella cut him loose and Aro changed him

Class: analgesic; can force another to feel nothing at all _(m)_

**Demetri: **spiky brown hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 6'3"; Jane's mate, Lenna's brother. From Greece (approx. 1000 BCE), originally in Cairene coven, turned when 19

Circumstances: prisoner of Sparta, tortured and nearly killed, saved by Amun

Class: tracker; can find anyone in the world _(m)_

**Heidi: **blonde hair with slight red tint, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'10"; Felix's mate, designated 'fisher'. From Germany (approx. 1500 BCE), originally in Lesbon coven, turned when 25

Circumstances: found as a scullery maid, changed out of pity by Hilda

Class: weapon; can allure people in _(p)_

**Jonathan "John": **dusky brown hair, crystalline skin, golden-eyed, 6'1". From Bohemian Kingdom (approx. 1800), originally in a Lunar Children pack, turned when 18 (appears 21)

Circumstances: offered asylum from punishment after cooperating with Volturi, changed by Isabella

Class: weapon/shifter; can physically morph into any and all animals (unique) _(p)_

**Benjamin: **short black hair, toned crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'7"; Isabella's mate, Anastasia's 'father'. From Egypt (approx. 1840), originally in Cairene coven, turned when 19

Circumstances: snatched from streets when dying of cholera and changed by Amun

Class: weapon; can control four elements (fire, earth, water, air) _(p)_

_**VOLTURI LOWER GUARD:**_

**Afton: **blond hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 6'1"; Chelsea's mate. From Gaul (approx. 800 BCE), turned when 26

Circumstances: bitten by scavenger following war; left behind and found by Chelsea

Class: strategist; can turn invisible by bending light around himself _(p)_

**Santiago: **long black hair typically in a braid, dark metallic skin, red-eyed, 5'11"; Corin's mate. From present-day Nigeria (approx. 100), originally in Brandenburg coven, turned when 25

Circumstances: tribesman, changed by now deceased leader of Brandenburg coven

Class: weapon; can turn nails into talons _(p)_

**Lilianna: **dirty blonde hair that goes to her back, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'5". From Prussia (approx. 1870), turned when almost 16

Circumstances: caught in a trap when trying to steal food; found by Jane and changed by Aro

Class: weapon; can reach extremely fast speeds _(p)_

**Aaron: **cropped black hair, dark metallic skin, red-eyed, 5'7"; Jamie's mate. From America (Virginia) (approx. 1880), turned when 25

Circumstances: bought by vampire as a slave/food but not completely drained

Class: strategist; can think of every possible plan within seconds _(p)_

**James "Jamie": **long brown hair tied in a ponytail, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'4"; Aaron's mate. From England (approx. ), turned when 23

Circumstances: walked down the wrong alley at night, changed by a nomad but abandoned before completely drained

Class: strategist; can sneak around undetected _(p)_

**Jasper: **honey-blond hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 6'3"; Maisie's mate. From America (Texas) (approx. 1860), turned when 19

Circumstances: coerced away from Confederate army by Nettie, changed by Maria

Class: empath; can force another to feel any emotion _(m)_

**Brianna "Bree": **dark brown hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'1"; Anastasia's mate, Marcus and Didyme's daughter. From America (Washington) (approx. 2000), turned when 16

Circumstances: found scrounging on the streets, changed by Riley

Class: strategist; gift of evasion much stronger than Victoria's _(p)_

**Gianna: **dark brown short hair often in a bun, dark metallic skin, red-eyed, 5'2"; Damian's mate. From Italy (approx. 2000), turned when 23

Circumstances: found by Damian, identified as mate; changed once ready by Damian

Class: shield; can persuade people to come or leave _(p)_

**_VOLTURI PROTECTED:_**

**Corin: **long blonde hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'9"; Santiago's mate. From Germanic tribes (approx. 70), originally in Brandenburg coven, turned when 24

Circumstances: attacked while hiding during Battle of Teutoburg Forest by a nomad, found by then-leader of Brandenburg coven

Class: empath; can make another feel happy _(m)_

**Renata: **short black hair with brown highlights, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'0"; Alec's mate. From Malta (approx. 950), turned when 14

Circumstances: changed by great-uncle Luca after rest of family died to assassins

Class: shield; can repel another away _(p)_

**Reina: **long, somewhat wavy blood red hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'7". From Denmark (approx. 1920), turned when 18 (appears 15)

Circumstances: declared insane and left to waste away in asylum; changed by a passing nomad who didn't drain her

Class: clairvoyant; can see glimpses of solid fate _(m)_

**Maisie: **wild fiery red hair, crystalline skin, red-eyed, 5'2"; Jasper's mate, Caius and Athenodora's daughter. From Great Britain (Ireland) (approx. 1840), originally in Irish coven, turned when 15

Circumstances: starved from blight, found half-gored by a ram, changed by Siobhan

Class: protected; can detect truth _(p)_

**Daehyun "Damian": **somewhat long black hair, crystalline skin, oriental red-eyed, 5'4"; Gianna's mate. From Joseon Kingdom (approx. 1880), turned when 23

Circumstances: beaten nearly to death by jealous rivals; changed by Caius

Class: weapon; can sing Song of Death _(p)_

**Anastasia "Nessie": **very long dark brown hair with reddish tint (usually kept in braid), shimmering skin, brown-eyed, 5'3"; Bree's mate, Benjamin and Isabella's daughter. From America (Washington) (approx 2010), originally in Olympia coven, immortalized at 17

Circumstances: physically born of Kristen Swan and Edward Cullen (deceased)

Class: mind-reader; can force another to read her mind at a touch _(m)_

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_**CAIRENE COVEN**_

**Amun: **short black hair and mustache, tanned sparkling skin, red-eyed, 5'8"; Kebi's mate, leader of Cairene coven. From Egypt (approx 2500 BCE), changed at 27

Circumstances: sacrificed to pharaoh to be slave, changed by pharaoh to be eternal servant

Class: strategist; persuasive voice that can convince others to change their minds _(m)_

**Kebi: **slightly longer than shoulder length black hair, tanned sparkling skin, red-eyed, 5'3"; Amun's mate. From Roman Empire (Egypt) (approx 20), changed at 23

Circumstances: recognized as mate by Amun, changed upon request

Class: protected; can send soul out in _ba_ form and watch over anywhere without body _(p)_

**Tia: **long black hair, tanned sparkling skin, red-eyed, 5'4". From Egypt (approx 1840), changed at 17

Circumstances: found alongside Benjamin and refused to leave; changed by Kebi

Class: weapon; can transfix anyone with gaze and force them to become temporarily petrified _(p)_

**Rosalie: **long blonde hair, sparkling skin, amber-eyed, 5'9"; Emmett's mate. From America (New York) (approx. 1920), originally in Olympia coven, changed at 18

Circumstances: violently raped; found and changed by Carlisle

Class: strategist; can analyze anyone's personality within seconds _(p)_

**Emmett: **short curly brown hair, sparkling skin, amber-eyed, 6'5"; Rosalie's mate. From America (Tennessee) (approx. 1930), originally in Olympia coven, changed at 20

Circumstances: mauled by a grizzly bear; found by Rosalie, changed by Carlisle

Class: weapon; complete control over all of body's strength _(p)_

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_**OLYMPIA COVEN**_

**Carlisle: **dusty blond hair, sparkling skin, golden-eyed, 6'2"; Esme's mate. From England (approx. 1660), changed at 28

Circumstances: found gathering of vampires; left to die by starved nomad

Class: empath; feels compassion for others' plights

**Esme: **caramel hair, sparkling skin, golden-eyed, 5'6"; Carlisle's mate. From America (Ohio) (approx. 1920), changed at 23

Circumstances: found nearly dead after attempting suicide, changed by Carlisle

Class: strategist; can think of every plan possible involving saving loved ones _(p)_

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_**AMAZONIAN COVEN**_

**Zafrina:**

Circumstances:

Class: analgesic; can force another to see what she wants them to _(m)_

**Senna:**

Circumstances:

Class: weapon; extremely flexible limbs _(p)_

**Kachiri:**

Circumstances:

Class: tracker; depending on how mentally close she is to person, can find anyone _(m)_

**Huilen: **long black hair kept in a ponytail, tanned sparkling skin, red-eyed, 5'4"; Nahuel's aunt. From present-day Brazil (approx. 1850), changed at 25

Circumstances: cared for nephew Nahuel after sister's death; changed by Nahuel

Class: strategist; can come up with an escape plan from every situation _(p)_

**Nahuel: **short black hair, tanned shimmery skin, teak-eyed, 5'7"; Lenna's mate, Huilen's nephew. From present-day Brazil (approx. 1850), immortalized at 18

Circumstances: physically born of Joham and Pire

Class: empath; can calm someone with a single touch _(m)_

**Lenna: **long wavy dark brown hair, sparkling skin, red-eyed, 5'6"; Nahuel's mate, Demetri's sister. From Greece (approx. 1000 BCE), originally in Cairene coven and Volturi guard, changed at 17

Circumstances: found Demetri hunting while wandering Cairo; captured by Amun and changed

Class: weapon; can physically or mentally handicap anyone _(p)_

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**_DENALI COVEN_**

**Tanya: **long strawberry blonde hair, sparkling skin, amber-eyed, 5'5". From present-day Slovakia (approx. 1000), originally in Siberian coven, changed at

Circumstances:

Class: strategist; can garner complete control over any followers, i.e. the perfect leader _(p)_

**Katrina "Kate": **short white-blonde hair, sparkling skin, amber-eyed, 5'6"; Garrett's mate. From a Slavic tribe (approx. 1000), originally in Siberian coven, changed at

Circumstances:

Class: weapon; can mimic electricity at a touch _(m)_

**Eleazar: **somewhat long dark brown hair, tanned sparkling skin, red-eyed, ; Carmen's mate. From Spain (approx. ), originally in Volturi guard, changed at

Circumstances:

Class: strategist; can read any gift of any and all vampires _(p)_

**Carmen: **long curly brown hair, tanned sparkling skin, red-eyed, ; Eleazar's mate. From Spain (approx. ), changed at

Circumstances:

Class: weapon; equivalent of charmspeak _(p)_

**Garrett: **straggly dark brown hair and slight beard, sparkling skin, red-eyed, ; Kate's mate. From American colonies (Pennsylvania) (approx. 1770), changed at 26

Circumstances: fought in patriot army, attacked by passing nomad

Class: weapon; can briefly harness any gift, only for a few seconds and only physical gifts _(p)_

**Alice: **spiky short black hair, sparkling skin, amber-eyed, ; Kristen's mate. From America ( ) (approx. ), originally in Olympia coven, changed at 19

Circumstances: found by a nomad, taken in out of pity, changed in panic when tracked down by James

Class: clairvoyant; can see snippets of possible futures _(m)_

**Kristen: **mousy brown hair, sparkling skin, amber-eyed, ; Alice's mate. From America (Washington) (approx. 2000), originally in Olympia coven, changed at 18

Circumstances: recognized as "mate" by Edward; requested to be changed, changed by Alice

Class: shield; somewhat control over main mind barrier _(m)_

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_**NOMADS**_

**Alistair:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Peter:**

Circumstances:

Class: clairvoyant; inclination towards knowing what is going to happen in the future _(m)_

**Charlotte:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Makenna:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Charles:**

Circumstances:

Class:

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_**PACKS**_

**Samuel "Sam": **cropped black hair, solid build, brown eyes, russet skin, tattoo on back of left shoulder, ; imprinted on Emily, former Alpha. Currently 22, appears 24

Circumstances: first turned shifter in La Push (latest generation)

Class: shifter; turns into black wolf (beta)

**Emily: **long black hair, willowy figure, scars across left side of face, dark brown eyes, russet skin, ; Sam's imprint. Currently 21

Circumstances: imprinted on after visiting Leah

Class: imprint

**Paul: **cropped black hair, thick build, dark brown eyes, russet skin, tattoo on upper right arm, ; imprinted on Rachel. Currently 18, appears 23

Circumstances: second turned shifter in La Push (latest generation)

Class: shifter; turns into dark silver wolf (gamma)

**Rachel: **braided black hair, boyish build, ; Paul's imprint. Currently 22.

Circumstances: came home from college to see Paul sprawled out on Jacob's couch

Class: imprint

**Jared: **somewhat shaggy short hair, not as well-built as Sam but still rather toned, hazel-brown eyes, russet skin, tattoo on upper right arm, ; imprinted on Kim. Currently 18, appears 23

Circumstances: third turned shifter in La Push

Class: shifter; turns into brown wolf with dark, raccoon-like mask (gamma)

**Kimberly "Kim": **long black hair often tied up in a ponytail, toned from track, light brown eyes, russet skin, ; Jared's imprint. Currently 17

Circumstances: Jared incidentally came across one of Kim's cross-country meets and saw her race

Class: imprint

**Jacob: **short black hair, solid build, black eyes, russet skin, tattoo on back near neck, ; imprinted on Lizzie, current Alpha. Currently 17, appears 20

Circumstances: fourth turned shifter in La Push and true alpha

Class: shifter; turns into russet wolf (alpha)

**Elizabeth "Lizzie": **long reddish-gold hair, slender, cinnamon eyes, fair skin, ; Jacob's imprint. Currently 16

Circumstances: met Jacob when he illegally parked Edward's car

Class: imprint

**Seth: **somewhat longer black hair, lanky build, dark brown eyes, russet skin, tattoo on upper left arm, ; Leah's brother. Currently 15, appears 18

Circumstances: fifth/sixth turned shifter; turned with Leah after father's death

Class: shifter; turns into sandy tan wolf (beta)

**Leah: **black hair cut in pixie cut, more toned than Seth, dark brown eyes, russet skin, tattoo on left side of hip, 5'10"; Seth's sister. Currently 19, appears 22

Circumstances: fifth/sixth turned shifter; turned with Seth after father's death

Class: shifter; turns into grey wolf (gamma)

**Collin: **short black hair, lanky build, brown eyes, russet skin, not yet tattooed, 5'9"; Jacob's cousin. Currently 14, appears 16

Circumstances: seventh turned shifter

Class: shifter; turns into ashy-brown wolf (delta)

**Brandon "Brady":** short black hair, lanky build, brown eyes, russet skin, not yet tattooed, 5'10"; Leah and Seth's cousin. Currently 13, appears 16

Circumstances: eighth turned shifter

Class: shifter; turns into reddish brown wolf (delta)

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_**DECEASED**_

**Paula: **

Circumstances:

Class:

**Sasha: **long wavy golden hair, sparkling skin, red-eyed, 5'6". From Slovakia (approx. 750), originally in Siberian coven, changed at 27

Circumstances: wandered away from home and changed by an unknown nomad

Class: empath; feels complete sympathy for anyone in danger

**Vasilii: **light brown curls, sparkling skin, red-eyed, 2'1". From Siberia (approx. 1100), originally from Siberian coven, changed at 3

Circumstances: found in the streets and changed by Sasha; executed along with sire

Class: immortal child; highly dangerous

**James:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Laurent:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Victoria:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Riley:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Cooper:**

Circumstances:

Class:

**Maria:**

Circumstances:

Class: bonder; charisma is contagious and can make others just as enthusiastic about being with her _(p)_

**Siobhan:**

Circumstances:

Class: clairvoyant; can feel if something's going to go the way she wants it to _(m)_

**Liam:**

Circumstances:

Class: weapon; complete control of physical stature and strength _(p)_

**Irina: **wavy platinum blonde hair, sparkling skin, red-eyed, 5'2"; Laurent's mate. From Slovakia (approx. 1000), originally in Siberian coven, changed at

Circumstances:

Class: bonder; draws people to herself and unconsciously bonds them together _(m)_

**Edward: **odd bronze hair, sparkling skin, golden-eyed, . From America (Illinois) (approx. 1910), originally in Olympia coven, changed at 17

Circumstances: found by Carlisle dying of Spanish flu, changed after mother died

Class: mind-reader; can read every mind in a certain radius, but only the surface thoughts _(m)_

**Stefan: **short snow white hair, powdery skin, red-eyed, ; Amelia's mate. From present-day Romania (approx. 1500 BCE), originally in Dacian coven, changed at 35

Circumstances: unknown; probably changed by a passing nomad

Class: weapon; can create and control weak mobile illusions _(m)_

**Vladimir: **long black hair tied back, powdery skin, red-eyed, ; Paula's mate. From present-day Romania (approx. 1300 BCE), originally in Dacian coven, changed at 24

Circumstances: said to have been changed after physical death by a nomad; origin of Dracula myth (coffin)

Class: weapon; extreme resiliency _(p)_


	58. Extra: Of Vampires and Science

**I never fully explained many of the widely accepted concepts in this story. They're a bit different from the original ****_Twilight _****concepts (read: have a more scientific basis). Here's a still in-progress explanation for most of them. If you want more of an explanation on something, just mention it in a review and I'll be sure to touch on it at a later time.**

**REPLIES:**

**Lorindol Tinuviel:** History is grand, but I have trouble dealing with it at times xD Most of the mistakes I made that you mentioned were using more modern names for countries, so that should be easy to fix. Also a bunch of this was jotted down as I wrote, so I didn't pay too much attention to the historical accuracy of the countries' names, which was more laziness from me than anything else. And all of the years that are mentioned are the approximate decade in which the vampire was changed (as well as the corresponding locations), which I should probably clarify a bit more. Funny thing about the Tanya/Kate/Irina thing: I didn't choose Slovakia, they were officially changed in Slovakia courtesy of the Twilight Wiki that was verified with the character guide. I just didn't double-check historical relevance, which I really should have. It's completely fine to geek out over history because I know I do it with biology waaayyy too much. |=| **Rusky01: **More stories coming soon! And one-shots for this storyverse. |=| **I am in Loki's Army: **It's not over until I mark that it's complete :D

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**Transformation:** In this storyverse, vampires and werewolves come into being because of a rather infectious disease that is set upon them. Vampire 'venom' isn't anything more than fluids being turned into a crystalline liquid that is the perfect place for a virus to inhabit. This virus takes over pretty much all of the vampire's once-human DNA, making it incapable of duplicating. Vampires have to take in blood because they have to renew the venom within themselves, or else the virus will eat the actual body. As the virus wants the body alive as long as possible to facilitate further biting and spread of itself, it messes with the synapses in the throat when the venom begins to run out of fluid that make the vampire insatiably thirsty. The fluid also leeches away at the pigment in the vampire's eyes; because of this, the regular vampire's eyes are red because extra blood gets circulated there and stored in the eye cavities (golden eyes are explained later). Werewolves have a much more powerful kind of virus; rather than killing the body as the vampire venom essentially does, werewolf virus changes the DNA to produce a chemical in the saliva that the virus thrives in. However, this DNA shift makes the werewolf's body unstable. It breaks down much more quickly than a human's body, and once a month (NOT NECESSARILY ON THE FULL MOONS) the body will disintegrate into a wolf's body because the DNA most resembles a wolf's at the time. The full moon aspect came about because one of the most infectious werewolves transformed approximately with the lunar cycle on the full moon, and the bites only begin to work after about 30 days. Ergo, the werewolves began to transform on the full moon. The transformation only lasts about 12 hours at night.

**Mating: **This is a little different from what Meyer wrote. What is implied in the original _Twilight_ series is that mates complete each other in practically a millisecond and then they go do the do. Just saying, this is kind of ridiculous to me. In my mind, mates are sort of like imprints, but not. Imprinting is implied that they are the perfect match to the wolf and that the wolf will be whatever their imprint needs. That second part is true for vampiric mates in this storyverse, but because vampires are immortal and imprints are typically humans, mates have more time to become what each other needs. Examples: Jane and Demetri are both loud, sarcastic vampires and are more passionate in their relationship. Renata is a quieter person in the relationship, so Alec is in a more supportive role and they have the cuddly, cute relationship that is practically cavity-inducing when you see it in real life. Jasper and Maisie, if Maisie wasn't really _mentally scarred_, would probably be closer to Jane and Demetri's relationship with hella more silliness, as Maisie is naturally a bubbly person (see her actions before Siobhan and Liam are killed for more details). However, due to her little situation, Jasper is more of an emotional rock for her to hang on to as she heals from the trauma of seeing her sire torn apart in front of her eyes. So until she heals (which will probably take a bit more time) she won't necessarily become the true person she is and actually embark on a relationship with our dear Major.

**Skin; crystalline or powdery?: **This is a weird thing that I've spent quite a bit of time pondering. In the books, the Volturi (kings at the very least) are described as having 'cloudy' eyes and 'powdery' skin. This is described as a petrification of sorts. My take on this is that this living fossilization is from a lack of action. In my version of the series, the kings enjoy doing their own hunting, not to mention the guards. Therefore, they would be constantly moving and have no possibility of petrifying. The Romanians, on the other hand, view themselves as deities that the people should sacrifice to, so they would petrify as they sit on their thrones and command the people to bring them the most energetic men to feed off of.

**Dying: **This hangs off of the coattails of the 'transformation' section. I'm not going to explain the viral infection again, but assuming that this is indeed how venom works, it is only too simple to see how fire can kill the vampire off. The venom virus would denature too quickly to mend itself in the flames, resulting in the body falling apart. The chemical process of combustion would render the body useless for the virus anyhow, and both parasite and host would crumble away.

**Eyes: **This is something I mentioned in a webcomic update, but I never really mentioned updating, so I decided just to type it out here. Basically, from what I know, animal blood and human blood have different chemical compositions. Something like a hemoglobin thing from what I know. Anyhow, in my storyverse, the human blood stimulates a reaction in the vampire to make it more human-like, as those are the conditions that the virus needs to survive. For this reason, a human-drinking vampire's eyes are a bit more colorful and have more variance, his/her skin is more rosy, and his/her hair seems more human-like and healthy. However, animal blood is kind of like tofurky in that it's enough to get by but it's very obviously fake. Animal-blood drinkers appear more like corpses, with sunken eyes, and their skin lacks the rosiness that human-blood drinkers have. There is also a different chemical reaction that makes their eyes appear golden rather than a 'healthy' crimson. Really, the golden is a color that the body resets to, so the blood just makes the irises seem golden when they are actually rather clear.

**Bonds: **Oh boy, this one's going to be tricky. To make it easier on myself, I've broken it up into smaller subsections.

~**Mating bonds: **This has been explained already to the best of my ability.

~**Parental bonds: **The second most common kind of bond. These exist between a mated couple and a 'younger' vampire. Basically, the younger vampire is, in essence, adopted by the couple. This bond exists mainly to ensure that the younger vampire doesn't do stupid things and kill itself; the virus senses other viruses that are benign and changes neural pathways to make the younger vampire feel protected when it is with the older ones. Conversely, the other viruses change some neural pathways to make the mated couple feel protective of the younger vampire. This will exist for most of the vampires' lives. The potential for the parental bond comes mostly from the female mate. If she is protective by nature and yearned for a child, no matter how unconsciously, as a human, then she could easily become attached to another vampire in this kind of bond.

~**Sibling bonds: **The rarest kind of bond, so rare that only a few cases have been documented. No one is quite sure of how to make one, even. The more widely accepted norm is for one sire to change two siblings, but if the siblings didn't already have an established bond, then it would be useless. If the siblings had extremely strong bonds as humans, then the shared venom will create a new bond between them, heightening their sensitivity to one another. For this reason, if one sibling in a bond is killed, then the other siblings feels the same urge to die, as the connections have been seared too violently and too painfully. If a sibling's mate dies, then the other sibling is generally enough to keep them alive and give them another reason to live.

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**Anything I've forgotten? Let me know :D  
**

**~Shriayle**


	59. Playlist: Kings and Queens

**I would like to preface this with the statement that these stories are a bit shorter than the chapters were. It really depends on how much inspiration I had at the time I wrote them. Each story is from a slightly different point of view on a different topic, though three are related to each other, kind of. All of them are either outtakes or designed to provide more information on a specific character's way of thinking or maybe a specific event. It kind of varies. They aren't epilogues in the true sense because of this.**

**REPLIES:**

**Ghostwriter71: **I'm just a science-y kind of person, I guess :P |=| **I am in Loki's Army: **Science yay. Tofurky is like a vegan kind of meat that's tasteless and unappetizing (to me, at least! My friend really loves it. I don't know how). And I have a few more updates for you, so... :P |=| **Rusky01: **I was debating on mentioning John's transformation; simply put, the viruses attacked each other and the vampiric cells won. And I'm still working on how abilities developed, actually. Some are a bit too fantastical, I believe. I'll find something. And your reasoning for not reading ATC is logical, so don't worry about offending me or something xD |=| **Saphire3654: **Well, in the twins' relationship, Jane is the more domineering while they are human so yes, Alec is no longer a submissive little mouse :P His strengths don't lie in being out there and bold, but constantly lurking in the background. It's like how his gift is always prepared to be unleashed, though it's harder to detect than Jane's. I guess. |=| **VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: **;P |=| **melanuschke1984: **Thank you! |=|

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A quick nip to the throat was all it took to get the infection started. A swift injection of liquid into the oblivious bloodstream by an oral means, which immediately found the tiny virus that already implemented itself into red blood cells and white blood cells, killing off more cells than the body could reproduce before entering the lymph system, rerouting it and changing the essence of the liquid into the less viscous venom that all infected hosts used, and adding itself into every part of the body. The painful part of entering nerves and tweaking them, making them more effective, more sensitive. Forcing tiny veins in the skin, arteries in the body, to host the venom instead of the blood. Turning the blood vessels into nothing but places for the self-propelled virus-filled cells to live in harmony, sustained by the proteins in human blood that the virus originally developed in. But the body didn't know that, it only registered the unwanted _intrusion! intrusion! send in the white soldiers! send in the great eaters! _But of course, this is all just a theory spawned from known information, and no one knew exactly how the metamorphosis worked. Only that it was one hundred percent effective and hurt like a _bitch_.

Heartbeats racing. Faster and faster, as if they knew that when they slowed, they would be consumed and would die. They would succumb to the ever-approaching darkness. And, as those of the light often do, they feared death's cold embrace. They wanted to outspeed it until it was too late, showing the most valiant of mortal efforts. The most pitifully, woefully, stupidly noble of efforts to cling to the God-given right to live. But the darkness always prevailed. That's why the dark is so patient. It knew that it would win, in the end.

Now, the nighttime silence was shattered by innocent screams. Screams of pain from the transformation. Screams that were the body's war cries, entering the fray of infection to valiantly fight until death do us part.

The pale figure carefully drew back, not allowing the tantalizing scent to become his drug, to make him want to finish what he started. Nay, he had started two things, and only one would be left undone. The children lying before him, one screaming, one whimpering, one snarling, would all serve him. He needed it to be done.

_**Into the night  
Desperate and broken  
The sound of a fight  
Father has spoken.**_

Marcus watched with blank, clouded eyes. He didn't feel the children's pain as he heard them call for one another in anger or in fright. Even when he bit one of them (a girl, maybe around two-hundred moons old) he hadn't felt much besides a twinge of pity for inflicting such potent pain. The children screamed from the darkness in their own minds, seeking comfort, fighting with their inner selves. For three days and three nights, the group watched the mortals convulse on the ground, choking on their own spit, howling in pain. The younger girl, one with pale brown hair the color of the finest of wheat, was the loudest in her screeching, tears running down her face as she sobbed out a name over and over again.

"ISA! PLEASE! SAVE ME!" she screamed through her tears.

"Someone shut her up," an irritated voice cut in.

"Caius!" The first who spoke was smacked on the head by the second. The now named Caius winced away and rubbed the abused spot on his head.

"Athena, don't do that," he grumbled.

Aro was oblivious to everything, even his own mate who pressed into his side and stared, wide-eyed, at the horrifying spectacle of suffering children. Sulpicia never liked seeing even her prey in agony as she consume their essence, and seeing the small, twitching figures in front of her made her whimper along with them. But Aro, Aro just watched his creations jerk about. He hadn't got to the oldest girl in time; she had to be bitten by whoever found her because her action of running into the fire had scarred her more than he would have liked. It was Marcus who carefully injected her full of his venom and dragged her out of one fire and into the next.

The three kings had already staked out which of the siblings in front of them they wished to mentor. Caius had seen the boy and promptly chose him, as though predicting that he would need a strong male figure at his side; the gods knew that Aro and Marcus didn't fit that description. Caius envisioned the boy at his side, easily obeying what he was told in order to get the best possible outcome, easily disobeying when he saw a better way to go about what he needed, always witty and sharp-tongued to deal with others. He was also calmer than the others, with less of the hatred and anger that defined the human race. His mind would become the analytic mind that Caius's was.

Aro drifted towards the younger girl, seeing the greatest potential to shape her into what he needed. Her thoughts revealed that she was brash and outspoken, but not without due cause. She hated her village for what they had done to the siblings. She wanted revenge, and when she wanted revenge, she got it. The other villagers were afraid of her; oh, her brother too, but they _despised_ her. She cared just as little about them. Her siblings were her life. She would fight for them to the ends of the world. Aro admired her drive. She would become a shrewd weapon, one that knew when to exact her revenge and when to grant her victims mercy.

Marcus's eyes hadn't left the older girl's face. He saw a slight innocence there, one he could compare to that which graced the face of his lost love. He saw in her a ferocious protectiveness, even if her bond was the only thing to go by, and he didn't forget the time he visited her and her reaction to seeing him. Her eyes had flashed and she had directed her siblings away from the door, as if hoping the stranger wouldn't see them and react to them, even speaking in her native tongue to confuse him as she didn't know he understood her language perfectly. He was drawn to this girl, the one so much like his Didyme. She would become the protective shield, the defense that countermanded the offense her siblings were, the one that tied all together and protected all from harm.

And so, the kings watched their new disciples fight the pains of transformation.

_**We were the kings and queens of promise  
We were the victims of ourselves  
Maybe the children of a lesser God  
Between Heaven and Hell,  
Heaven and Hell.**_

When the children were soon to wake, the kings split them up quietly to begin explaining the transformation without any distractions. The first to wake was the boy. He had endured his metamorphosis with as few complaints as possible, and he woke up rational, though the thirst plagued him. Caius quietly took him away to feed on a human girl who wandered too far from home before systematically explaining the executive-judicial system of government of their kind. The white-haired king detailed how the guards, both elite and lower, were also members of a larger 'coven' as well as members of the jury, focusing on how everyone's opinion mattered in any and all problems that came out of the vampire world, from mates' spats and . He predicted the boy's patience and thoughtfulness, and all of this hypotheses proved correct as the boy sat and listened carefully, memorizing everything, asking fitting questions. The boy finally introduced himself.

"I'm Alec."

"Is that it?" Caius expected a much longer name. "I myself am called Caius Julius Dexter. I thought you would have at least two names yourself."

Alec held his gaze while shaking his head slowly. "In our society, we are given only one name. My full name is Alexander, but the village thought it too pagan to say, so it was shortened to Alec."

Caius snorted. "Alexander was a powerful man. You should hold his name proudly."

Alec shrugged. "I've long since gotten used to Alec, sir. It will take a while to get accustomed to 'Alexander.' "

"Then it seems we'll just have to call you Alec, hmm?"

"Yes sir."

Caius nodded in approval of the boy's obedience. "Well then, Alec, you seem to be surprisingly steady-minded. Isn't the thirst taking over your senses, urging your primal nature to lash out?"

The boy's eyes turned analytical as he scrutinized himself. Finally, he shrugged and shook his head. "I feel nothing."

Caius's eyes shot open. "What? But you are newborn. You should feel as though you swallowed a desert."

"I did, when I drank that human. But now I don't. It feels as though I forced the pain away."

Caius's eyes narrowed this time as he stood deep in thought. "Hmm. Try doing the same to me, if you can."

Alec looked thoughtful for a second and then seemed almost frightened as he came across an errant thought. He shook his head frantically. "I feel as though I would harm you right now, sir. I'd much rather work on finding out why I am forcing my pain away and how to control it if I can."

Caius nodded approvingly. "Spoken like a true general, boy."

Alec smiled happily at the rarely given compliment.

_**Into your eyes  
Hopeless and taken  
We stole our new lives  
Through blood and name  
In defense of our dreams  
In defense of our dreams**_

The next to awaken had been the older girl. Marcus waited in the shadows of the trees for the girl to awaken, for her breath to catch in her throat as she stared at the miniscule bits of dust that floated in her vision. He watched her cautiously place two fingers to her neck and saw how still she became when she realized the truth. That she was condemned to death but snatched away from the brink of oblivion.

She glanced up and saw him wavering at the edge of the meadow. Caught, he stepped out of the trees, seeing nothing but her radiant face as it stared at him in shock. Of course, he hadn't aged a day since his transformation. She wouldn't have known that, though, and she stared as the face from seven years ago reappeared in her vision. After waiting for her to say a word that remained silent, Marcus ventured a slight bow.

"Greetings, young one."

"If you know a bit of English, why did you insist on speaking in French?"

Clever little girl. "It was all I knew at the time," he said, the lie rolling off of his tongue. He had to keep up the masquerade somehow, not tell her straight away that he had visited her land before and he had learned even the predecessor for her language. It didn't escape his notice when she suddenly stopped talking and stared wide-eyed, surprised even by the sound of her own voice. She soon recovered and went about observing him, noticing every detail from his scintillating skin to his clothes. His clothes, which were red and gold and black and purple. Perfect embroidery

"So you _were_ a noble," she murmured quietly, yet loud enough for Marcus to hear.

"Didn't I tell you I wasn't?" he responded.

"Your clothes tell me otherwise, sir," she retorted. He laughed a hollow laugh to keep up his cheerful pretense. She didn't need to know of his unending sorrows.

"Well, these are, ah, recent acquisitions. But I assume that these questions can wait, for your thirst must be most potent." The girl's eyes shot open again as she realized that she sheltered a desert in her throat. He led her back to her old village and watched as she fell upon a man in dirty white clothing, ripping his throat open, snapping his neck, and consuming his blood. He watched as she backed away, horrified at what she had done, and proceeded to scream something about God. Oh, the Christians and their little _God_ who created the world, not Mother Gaia, Father Ouranous, or even Chaos. _So adorable,_ he thought sardonically.

She had to accept that who she was now, she had to be supported by blood. Their bodies used up the vital liquid they once had. Now, they had to replenish it somehow. And the best way was to drink from living creatures. It was obvious who their prey was. The prey had to have the most similar fluids possible. They would be taking lives in order to fuel their own existence.

He told her what she was now. She seemed to take it somewhat well, better than he expected her to. She didn't like how she had to drink from other humans to sustain herself. She had been taught that she had to sacrifice much in order to get into the Land Above the Skies. Though she still couldn't believe that she would never go to Heaven like she was always told. What utter shit these now grown, adult children spewed ever since the Romans expanded too far and fell. If only the empire could return and the glory of the gods was renewed again. Maybe then, sense would come to the human race.

**_We were the kings and queens of promise_**  
**_We were the victims of ourselves_**  
**_Maybe the children of a lesser God_**  
**_Between Heaven and Hell,_**  
**_Heaven and Hell._**

The final to awaken was the youngest female. To be fair, she had woken only a little bit after her older sister, but they didn't really tell the siblings this. Aro was sitting, watching, praying that the meeting he created would all go to plan.

The girl awoke and abruptly sprung to her feet, shoulders tense, eyes darting about wildly. She seemed to make split second decisions whether to climb a tree, or to race about the clearing, or to just marvel at what she saw. Her eyes darted between the tree to the grass to the sky and back again. It therefore took her a while to sense that there was another presence with her. When she did, she gasped and released her power in a blast so powerful that Aro was knocked to his knees.

"You did that to Isa!" the girl sputtered, startled as she watched him convulse.

Aro was able to recover, but not before the girl fell onto her backside and was crawling backwards, on her hands and knees, gracefully somehow. He would have laughed at the sight if her gift hadn't shocked him so much.

"What was that?!" he demanded, shivering at the potency of the pain.

"What? The pain? The thing? I don't know! I just didn't expect you at all! Who are you, anyhow?"

_Ah, the sweet sufferings of the short attention span_, Aro thought wryly.

"My name is Aro. I am one of three leaders of the Volturi coven. We are usually situated in Volterra, in the southern peninsula, but we have been traveling elsewhere for a while now. We were forced out of our homes by older vampires who now govern through carnage and bloodshed, not even bothering to cover up their tracks. They are a danger to us all."

The girl nodded, her eyes slightly glazed over.

"Now come, child, and you shall drink. Newborns must always suckle at the teat of life."

She blinked, not knowing what he meant with his words, but followed him nonetheless. He was her only tie to reality and companionship, after all.

"Who were you, prior to this life? You and your siblings both, dear girl."

"If you must know, I am called Jane. We were bastards of an English Jew and a Frankish soldier. We were raised with no mother. Isabella was raised with Christianity, so she taught us how to read and write based off of that knowledge. But the other villagers always thought we were pagan because of our mother and because of Alec's real name, Alexander, after the Great general and Roman conqueror. They called us devil's spawn, said that the God we worshiped was different from the one they did. But look at us now. We have no God. We worship no one. Funny way how that works out."

**_T**he a**ge of man is over_**  
**_A darkness comes at dawn_**  
**_These lessons that we've learned here_**  
**_Have only just begun_**

If there ever was a constant in Aro's life, it was the three children.

They... delighted him. They were so unexpectedly raw, so attached to one another, so willing to protect one another even if it meant bodily harm to themselves. It was the most potent bond that Marcus had ever seen, even stronger than many mates' bonds. Caius saw it as an advantage; bringing all three to a battle site for their offensive abilities was a good idea to begin with, but imagining an attacker trying to contend with two angered siblings if he tried to attack a third? It was extremely frightening to even attempt to picture, let alone dream of. Marcus read their bond and felt his energy to find his lost mate renewed; she had loved him almost as much as Isabella, Jane, and Alec loved one another.

For that reason, Aro hadn't expected for them to have mates. They were already complete with the other siblings. Why have a soul mate when you had a soul sibling, one you were connected with by blood and by spirit? But when he went to visit Amun in hopes of convincing his newest protégé to join (it was only for the war against the Romanians; Demetri would have been free to go afterwards), he had coincidentally brought Jane and sealed Demetri's fate in his elite guard. The man was a great tracker and a better mate; he brought a fun-loving side to Jane's almost macabre sadism.

Alec, on the other hand, had a different mating experience. When Luca had begged Aro to protect Renata, the last member of his family, the king hadn't expected the small-statured vampire to take to the other twin so quickly yet shyly. His mate had slowly eased into him, and they were more about a nurturing love rather than the passion that Jane and Demetri so often displayed. Aro noticed a very subtly growing protective side to Alec, rather than the one that flared up within Demetri, and Renata was meeker than Jane by far. At least, in the beginning. She was gaining confidence in herself as the days passed and she realized just how much Alec loved her, even if he hid it well under his carefully created mask.

Isabella was the only one unmated for such a long while, and Aro had worried for her. While he himself didn't know how strong her sibling bond was, he knew that his own sister finding her other half had appeased him more than he thought. He had stopped trying to manipulate her, and now was letting her live her life. His darkness had lifted, transforming into beautiful day as he had Sulpicia by his side and Didyme had Marcus by hers. But no sunlight would come for Isabella soon, he assumed. That was until Amun's creation, Benjamin, had met Isabella and recognized her as his mate. Aro had rejoiced silently when he looked at the two of them together. They were matured, their bond a more adult connection. Rather than seeming as though they were in a relationship, they looked like the best of friends who happened to be slightly more. It was one of the more healthy relationships that Aro had the privilege to witness. Add to that their daughter, the dhampir Anastasia, and they made a most wonderful family.

Vampires were creatures of the id, after all. They hunted when they hungered, they fought when they were upset, they lusted when they were in heat, they took when they wanted. They were everything and anything that humans couldn't possibly bring themselves to be without completely losing themselves. They were creatures of the night, creatures that the humans couldn't possibly have thought of when they took them over.

They ruled over the days and nights. They were the kings and queens of life, and held their power in one hand much in the way that others held jewelry or prized possessions.

And the siblings loved it.

_**We were the kings and queens of promise  
We were the victims of ourselves  
Maybe the children of a lesser God  
Between Heaven and Hell.  
**_

Aro knew he was flawed. He knew he made mistakes before and would continue to do so. He knew that he had to rely on his brothers and sisters, and they on him, to tell him when he messed up.

He knew that Isabella didn't have as extensive a luxury. He had seen that she and her siblings once struggled under the weight of what they had to do, and for that he was apologetic.

Aro knew that his kingdom, the one he had built to protect his dispersed subjects, was an illusion that the vampiric population helped nurture. After a rumor went out that he collected gifted vampires capable of instilling pain and numbing, the other elder covens either respected their guidelines of secrecy or taunted the Italians, gorging on humans with other mortals watching. The kings soon retaliated. Execution became a cornerstone of the Volturi government. Marcus didn't seem to like it, Caius just did what he knew was necessary, and Aro forced it to be.

But now, with the siblings, just the mere threat of reducing an all-powerful being to a powerless, wailing pile was enough of a deterrent to the proud species that it gave them a reason to balk at the possibility. Jane, Alec, and Isabella were the most prized members of the government, and it was due to their entrance into the guard that the Volturi still ruled so justly. But they were still people, with souls that needed completion and the ability to love others. They were selfless, allowing the needs of the government to come above their own needs for clean blood and time to love.

The one downside of the rumors was that they forced his guards to become no more than machines to the rest of the vampiric population. The others didn't see when Isabella and Jane and Alec performed concerts with the most joyous smiles, Jane trying not to laugh as she blew into her flute, Alec struggling to control his bow as his body shook with repressed laughter, Isabella smiling serenely, a glint of mischief present in her eyes, as her fingers darted over the keys. They didn't see Isabella stretched out on a couch with a book, glancing over the top as Jane and Felix ferociously played some board game next to her, or Alec jokingly threatening Demetri whenever the tracker managed to annoy Jane somehow. They didn't know about the disrespectful way of speech that the siblings purposefully used with the kings as a joke, knowing that they wouldn't offend at all, or the time that Renata had teasingly refused to talk to Alec until he played his cello for her. They only saw the emotionless face that the guards wore to protect themselves when there was a trial, when they had to punish on the kings' orders.

They never saw the people that Aro knew his guards were.

If only they could see past the ends of their noses and through the crystalline skin they all shared.

_**We are the kings  
We are the queens  
We are the kings  
We are the queens**_

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**Song used: "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars**

**~Shriayle**


	60. Playlist: Hey Brother

**Ever wonder exactly what Isabella thought about her siblings? Well, here you go.**

**Replies:**

**VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran:** AND HELLA MORE TO COME YES. |=| **Rusky01: **These songfics have been rather fun to write, as well as a bit less stressful :D I've had trouble finding some songs, to be honest, but I like the ones that I ended up using. I'm still coming up with a possible ability explanation, but too much of it relies on 'and then SORCERY and then GIFT' so I'm not sure how successful I'm going to be. You *might* need a little background on the PJO universe before reading _ATC_, but it shouldn't be too bad. I think. |=| **Artistia: **sniffsniff not so sure about the cute part, to be honest xD |=| **Ghostwriter71: **Not sure what the ID is, but I'll take your word for it, Ms. Ghosty (I don't even know) :1 |=| **tanamashu: **Basically the kings didn't really want that much bloodshed because technically only Edward was breaking the law, so they sent the siblings off to do more important things. Like intercept shapeshifters. If you want to see Isabella's ruthlessness, you'll see it in, oh, maybe the next songfic.

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Once upon a time, there was a little girl.

Once upon a time, she had two siblings. Twins. A brother and a sister. She would have been blessed if she lived in a different society, she knew that. She had heard of the other lands from her mother first and then from the mercenaries that constantly moved through town. She heard of how twins were considered magical; two children forming when only one should have. They were too excited to see the world and mold it with their capable hands, some legends whispered.

Once upon a time, she was forced to grow up too early after her mother passed and her father left and was found dead, rotting in a stream. Once upon a time, she didn't have any time to prepare for the hardships her life would lead to.

Once upon a time, she was forced to be a mother for her siblings, who were still so innocent. She remembered those wide blue eyes staring up at hers, questions buried deep within them. She wondered if they were asking her where their mother was, if she would ever come back. Her heart ached when she had to answer differently as they grew up: "She'll come back soon," "She's home with God." She watched their eyes become confused, their brows furrow with their innocence: "Why isn't she home with us?"

She knew that there was a slight possibility that they weren't even complete siblings. They looked ever so slightly different, a difference that could be attributed to being born at different times, sure, but also to different fathers. It mattered not to her if they were family or not. They looked so angelic, so perfect, and they acted the same way.

She knew that she would throw herself in front of a raging drunk knight, would allow a horse to run over her and break every bone in her body, would gladly bleed out to death to protect these two little cherubim, the two innocent souls who had been born into a world that hated them for their names, their heritage, their misanthropic behavior and idiosyncracies. She knew that the villagers would gladly tear them down as devils and witches, hell spawn and worse, when they were only angels that somehow made it onto Earth.

She knew that she could not let that happen.

They were her _siblings_. Jane was her little sister, the mischievous one who managed to get little sparkly pieces of glass to amuse herself in a most morbid manner, the one who loved to steal all of her attention with crazy antics and sweet smiles. Alec was her little brother, the quiet one who never spoke out of turn no matter how much the villagers spat and sneered, the one who willingly accepted anything and everything that was thrown into his face. The other one who was born an infant and grew up as an adult.

Her heart sobbed for these lost children, the ones without a mother or a father to guide them, just an inexperienced sister who wanted nothing more for them than a true family, with a real mother and a real father.

**_Hey brother, there's an endless road to re-discover.  
Hey sister, know the water's sweet but blood is thicker.  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._**

Her mother died when she was approximately nine years old, so that was about 110 moons, she thought. Her siblings were nearly seven years old, at around 80 moons. They acted like children, yes, but children that had seen the hardships of life already at their tender age.

Isabella had watched the village kids throw stones at her brother, watched them kick Jane into the dirt when she didn't move out of the way of their foolish games. She watched how her siblings refused to give in with a heart full of pride. She watched how the other kids didn't care and kept going with a heart full of stone, giggling maliciously.

Isabella knew that she had to race out and defend them with all her heart, that just smacking the other kids with a stick wasn't enough. She would do anything, everything for her siblings. They were all she had left. There was no reason for her to not sacrifice all that she could think of for them. She would die if it meant they lived. The burning desire to protect overruled the sputtering embers that once was her desire to survive. Nothing was too much to give up for the twins. They deserved so much more than they received. Jane, for all her beautiful, heartbreaking curiosity deserved to be treated as the little girl that the others were treated as; strips of string to giggle with and tie around their heads, the ability to pick flowers from the fields without being sneered at as a witch, the . Alec and his quiet thoughtfulness was trodden on rather than valued for all that it was; he deserved the education that Isabella got from the clergy, the books that she learned to read from.

She had tried so hard to give them what she got. She memorized swathes of books, scratched them out on the ground carefully with a stick and taught the twins how to read and write. They didn't take to education as readily as she had, but she knew that they would do anything to make her happy. That saddened her too. No one saw how joyous the twins got, how their eyes lit up like the gunpowder decorations that the lord sometimes brought in from his travels, whenever she smiled at them. It was almost as though she was their god, and that her approval was all they needed.

She wished she could give them more. She wanted them to value the relationship they had, and they did, but she couldn't give them what they wanted in exchange. It made her want to cry, want to lash out and slap the faces of everyone who wronged them. But she couldn't. She was just a little girl.

**_Hey brother, do you still believe in one another?  
Hey sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._**

It was the twins' ninth birthday. Isabella had chosen a random day at approximately the right time of the year to celebrate, and she worked so hard to make it a reality. She had asked around, trying to find out how the other children celebrated their birthdays. She even asked the clergy, who responded, "The only birthday that we must celebrate is that of our Lord and Savior. Any other birthday is immaterial, dear Isabella, so put this nonsense out of your head."

But Isabella was adamant. She had heard from her mother of some traditions that her people used to go through. Why couldn't they?

So Isabella garnered the best rations she could: a day-old loaf of bread from the baker and a much wider collection of vegetables from the forest and from some of the older mothers. She carefully prepared them, and when the twins came in from their daily abuse and Isabella had cleaned them up and kissed the pains all away, she turned to the table excitedly.

"Jane, Alec, you know that you were born in this time of year, correct?" she said quietly, in anticipation.

The twins exchanged a look of excitement and confusion. What was their sister going on about this time?

"So, our mother used to celebrate these days. I thought you would want to take part in some of the rituals she taught us before she joined the angels in Heaven."

The twins' eyes lit up simultaneously. Jane had a look of awe on her face and Alec a look of pure joy. They loved hearing about their mother, that was certain. They would willingly do any odd thing if Isabella said that their mother did it before them.

Isabella smiled at their sudden enthusiasm. She smiled sadly; she knew why they were so excited.

"What did Mama say she did, Isa?" Jane asked, bouncing on her seat on the ground.

"Well, she said that she got the best food she could, and they prayed because today is the day that God will listen most closely, and then they sang and danced," Isabella explained in the cursory fashion that many children before and after her adopted.

The twins listened fervently, drinking in every single word.

"Well?" she said.

They ate their meal heartily, knowing it was much better than the usual ones Isabella scavenged. They laughed and sang and danced just the way that Isabella had explained, and when it came time to pray, the twins immediately dropped down on their knees and began.

Isabella heard them whisper to God, asking if their mother was okay. If she had found her way to the Celestial City, if she was allowed in even though she was Jewish, if she was willing to come back down sometimes to talk to them until they got to go join her. Isabella listened with sadness in her heart, wishing that she could somehow grant their wish, the wish buried deep in their hearts.

She tied Jane's hair up with some spare string the next day, and found some kind of knotted pattern to make into a necklace for Alec. The twins ran out, shouting for joy, presents bouncing off of their chest or tied neatly on their hair, attracting others' attention. The other serfs watched them dash about in bliss. The adults smiled despite themselves; they were still adorable children, after all. The children watched them with furrowed brows, then with maniacal grins and cackles.

They came back at sundown. They did not cry for sadness or joy. They did not laugh. They merely walked up to her with identical expressions of despair and pain. Jane's hair was undone and messily tussled, covered in mud in some places, just like her clothes always were. Alec's neck had a line of red where the string around it had been forcefully torn off and thrown aside with nothing more than a frivolous laugh.

Isabella held them in her arms as they trembled from the brutality of the other children they grew up with.

**_What if I'm far from home?  
Oh, brother I will hear you call.  
What if I lose it all?  
Oh, sister I will help you out!  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._**

The twins were now eleven. They had seen the futility of fighting back. They merely clung to their now-thirteen year old sister. They didn't try to fight what she said. They told her all of their problems, all of their fears, all of their dreams, all of their hopes. She listened to their voices with wonder and encouragement reflecting in her eyes. Alec spoke of becoming a general, like his namesake. Jane spoke of becoming a lady or at least working and living in the palace that the lord built.

Isabella encouraged their empty dreams, knowing that she couldn't give this one thing to them. She could not give them the happiness they deserved.

The twins were now thirteen. They knew that their dreams were worthless, but they didn't give them up. If anything, they focused even more. Alec wanted to be more powerful so that he could defend his sisters. Jane wanted to be prized above all else, except maybe her siblings. He wanted to shield others from what they experienced. She wanted to be worth something to someone.

Isabella wanted to protect them from the world until they could accomplish their dreams.

The twins were now fifteen. They were burning at the stake, charged with heresy and witchcraft. They were jeered at, mocked, cruelly laughed at, but they struggled on. They wanted to live, wanted to accomplish their dreams. Isabella ran in to tug them out, knowing that they were her only family, the only ones she would live for. She would kill herself in a heartbeat if she knew that her siblings would be safe. They were all each other had. The other humans tried to discourage her, knowing that she was a devout Christian, one that kept her head down and didn't cause trouble like these witch twins, but she threw herself into the smoking flames to save the sinners.

The group of vampires watched from the shadows at her attempts to save them from the smoke, at the thinning crowds. The villagers left quickly as Isabella burned. They didn't want to watch this pious girl burn for a sin that her siblings committed. Truth be told, they admired her selflessness in her pursuit to save the sinners from certain death. They only wished that she could be saved from such a horrendous death.

If only they knew what was to come.

**_Hey brother, there's an endless road to re-discover.  
Hey sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._**

Isabella had watched her siblings grow from babies to children to teenagers. She watched them grow their first teeth, watched them walk their first step, watched them timidly poke the sunlit patch of dirt that lay under the window sometimes in their old village. She watched them go outside for the first time, eyes wide, enthralled with the blue sky and the seemingly everlasting forests. She gave them their first bite of real food, not the watery mess she had concocted after her mother passed without weaning the twins. She sang them to sleep, told them stories from the holy book she diligently read. She taught them all they knew of sacrifice, of sadness, of hope.

She watched the other children scream foul names at them and run away, laughing with disgusting glee. She watched Jane turn to inflicting the same pain on insects helpless against her, setting them on fire the way those words set her despairing mind on fire. She watched Alec draw into himself, turning into the shell of the boy that she knew he really was and could be, cutting off connection with everyone else except for his two sisters. She mourned the loss of their innocence as much as they didn't, ignorant as they were to it.

When they burned for three days and became immortals, something changed in the twins. They had the strength to accomplish their dreams now. Jane and her gift of pain found herself wanted and loved by the kings, and she blossomed. She could make her bullies feel all of the pain that they had inflicted on her. Alec and his pain-killing found himself able to defend anyone he wanted by casting intruders into a mist of sleep. He could throw his tormentors into a sleep so deep it was as if they were dead. Isabella watched them grow up in front of her mentally, becoming the people that they wanted to be.

**_What if I'm far from home?  
Oh, brother I will hear you call.  
What if I lose it all?  
Oh, sister I will help you out!  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._**

Isabella watched her siblings drift apart from her, having found their mates. She watched them fall in love, watched them court their significant others as they themselves were courted and flirted with. She watched them begin their own lives with their mates. She loved that they could now, that they had their own strengths that they could rely on rather than having to come to her for protection. She was glad that they could find their own strength now.

She only hoped that they knew that she would do anything for them, even now.

* * *

**Song used: "Hey Brother" by Avicii, but I was listening to the Olivia Penalva cover for this specific perspective.**

**~Shriayle**


	61. Playlist: The Mother We Share

**SO GUYS I REACHED 100,000 VIEWS AND OMG THANK YOU FOR READING THIS STORY THAT IS ALL.**

**Replies:**

**Ghostwriter71: **OH THE ID. That took a while xD I refer to the vampires as creatures of the id at times just because they are ruled by bloodlust and mating bonds according to Meyer, the two things that seem to resemble the primal urge for cannibalism and pleasure a la Freud. But I'm not a psychologist; I wouldn't know. The Volturi are extremely flat in the series, so I had fun trying to make them more dimensional here. I don't like _Twilight_ in general, by the way :P |=| **TwilightRocks22: **Cute siblings are cute :D |=| **IAILA (Guest that's not really a guest): **That song is one of my favorites, especially that cover of it :D It fits well with Isabella, I think. |=| **534667lc: **Their past makes me want to hug them forever even though I know Jane will hate me and try to eat me if I did D: |=| **Rusky01: **Your dedication to this story is astounding xD I tend to like songs for either their lyrics or their melodies. I didn't really like the original version, to be honest, so when I found the other cover that soon became the only thing I ever listened to ever. Olivia Penalva has a nice voice, I guess. Your explanation seems logical enough :P I might write up a short paragraph on that later. And these little short things are a bit more fun to write about, though they might seem redundant in the future. |=| **I am the Story Teller: **Your comments flatter me still :'D I tried really hard with this story, so it's nice to see that people appreciate it! 'Twas great knowing you as well, though I have the feeling that you might rejoin us with the next Twilight story I plan to write. Hehe. |=| **VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: **How do I respond to this. :D |=| **twilight-et-the-vampire: **Ahhhh Freenncchhhhhh as much as I would like to respond to you in the same language I feel like I would butcher it so sorry D: But thanks! I hope you continue to look forward to more updates!

* * *

_To my dear sister, Isabella_

_I have compiled everything I've ever wanted to say to you in this short missive. I can only hope I covered everything in these words to you. I'm certain that I didn't. I'm certain that I never could. But I sure as hell can try, no?_

**_Never took your side, never cursed your name  
I keep my lips shut tight, until you go-o-oh  
We've come as far as we're ever gonna get  
Until you realize, that you should go-o-oh_**

_Do you remember the first day you saw us? Did you think about what wonderful playmates you were going to get, or when we would be able to sit up, or even just talk for ourselves? Did you watch our mother, the mother we share, nurse us and wonder about having children of your own one day? Or were you too young to think of such things? Could you even fathom a life without us at the time?_

_See, my dear sister Isa, I can remember the moment I first saw you, no matter how hazy our human memories remain to be to us. Beautiful hair the color of the finest nobles' furniture (don't ask how I knew what that color was, I'm sure you don't want to know), with those rich brown eyes, so warm and welcoming. To be honest, I felt insignificant in comparison. My hair, the color of dirty straw. My eyes, as vacuous and wide as the sky I stole its color from. I wanted to look like you, to be you, if that makes sense. I wanted to take your hair and call it mine, and somehow steal your eye color from you along with it. I wanted to look more like you, sister. You were the standard I set myself to, and everything that I wasn't that you were I regarded as my own personal failure._

_Alec didn't help. His hair was the perfect balance between ours, it seemed; reddish, almost copper in the light, a lighter brown when hidden in the shadows. The one saving grace for me was that we shared that same empty expression in our gaze and in the colors of our eyes. His eyes were maybe even lighter than mine. That was the one thing I did not envy of our brother's appearance as a petty little girl. He was always staring up at the clouds, too! Do you remember? Looking at the sky, watching the sun rise and dance through the heavens? I thought he was crazy at the time; he let the villagers shout and spit and jeer at him, without even faltering, still watching those damn birds dart through the blueness of the celestial lands._

_And yet, he was the wisest of us all, no? Watching out for his God, staring at the sky in the hopes that he could somehow catch a glimpse of the Heavenly City you always told us about in your stories. He wanted to know where he would go after death. He wanted to see the singing angels and the smiling mothers and the brusque yet kind fathers that would await our now impossible return._

_Depressing, isn't it, how such young children were made to think of dying and Hell and Heaven and God rather than rabbits or cows or shouting or playing with others. We didn't get that kind of childhood. But now that I think of it, we didn't really want it. We just wanted a connection to you, Isabella._

_**I'm in misery where you can seem as old as your omens**_  
_**And the mother we share will never keep your proud head from falling**_  
_**The way is long but you can make it easy on me**_  
_**And the mother we share will never keep our cold hearts from calling**_

_I wonder about Mama and Papa sometimes. We never met our father, do you recall? We never grew up with a strong male figure (poor Alec). I heard at the village that his body was found, bloated and washed up in a nearby river. Apparently, he died after impregnating our mother a second time, that time with us twins. I wonder if he was a soldier, or a friar even. I wonder what kind of man could have left his child. I wonder what kind of man could have left his child twice. I wonder what kind of man could have left his lover with three children to take care of. Was he irresponsible by choice or by circumstance? I guess these are questions that can never be answered now._

_Mama was a different story. You told us before how she seemed to shrink and wither away after we twins were born. I thought she was strong, keeping her beliefs in the middle of a hating community. Jews were hated, even back then in our childhoods. She defied the clergy that you seemed to cling to for some sense of normalcy in our lives. Catholicism took over our lives, let's just say it right now. We learned how to read and write verses because of you, Isa. You tried to take us to some communions or something in order for us to understand the children that didn't try and understand us. You tried to make us accepted. For that I thank you. Our mother couldn't do as much, although she only lived for a few dozen moons after our birth, to be fair. I imagine her, stubbornly holding onto her Torah until the end, the Star of David proudly etched into our wall, her slowly whitening hair as red as yours and her eyes as blue as mine, the determination I have seen on Alec's face etched onto her weathered features. I can't even remember her face now, to be honest. I don't remember if she had red hair or brown, blonde or grey. I can't remember if her eyes were the cold chips of ice that mine resembled or the rich, almost indescribable warm brown that you sacrificed all those centuries ago._

_But lately, I've thought that she was desperate. The father of her children had left her for a second time, and we twins didn't exactly give her the easiest of childbirths, from what I remember the midwife spitting at me when I was four. And I can imagine that we weren't the best of babies either. No toothless infant knows anything about what's going on, I guess. As tiny children, we just consume and excrete, blissfully unaware of the sadnesses we are to endure in the future._

_You protected us and mothered us when our mama couldn't do it anymore, Isa. I can't imagine the amount of courage you had to show at however young you were, no matter how much you protest and say it wasn't courage. That's just complete bullshit. You had to deal with twice as many tantrums, twice as many tears, twice as many little humans looking up to you as though you were the child of God yourself at more than half the age normal humans dealt with it. And that turned into that instinct, that desire to protect us rather than defend yourself. And now you have the shield that probably saved all of our lives at that last battle. And for that, I thank you._

**_In the dead of night, I'm the only one here  
And I will cover you, until you go-o-oh  
And if I told the truth, I will always be free  
And keep a prize with me, until you go-o-oh_**

_Did you wonder why our mother gave you and Alec such upper-class, high-ranking names? I was simple in comparison. My name was monosyllabic. 'Jane.' The name of a commoner, of a peasant girl. But you? 'Isabella'? The name from our mother's tongue, signifying you as a gift from God Himself? And Alec, who took on the shorter name when pestered by the dumbass villagers we lived with? Alexander, after the great general who took over the entire continent yestercentury. _

_Master Aro says that's not a word. Well, forget him. He can't tell me what to write to you. Stupid king, thinks he can tell me what to do._

_Where was I? I can't just go back and erase that now. And don't laugh at me for using indelible ink. I didn't think I would have the interruption._

_Stupid king._

_Where _was_ I?_

_Oh yes, my name._

_Little Jane, with the simple name, with the simple mind, with the single goal to kill all of the vermin that contaminated our food. The little strange girl, who didn't know what she was doing as she watched the little bugs beneath her, the only things left beneath her, since all of the other children spat on her and threw her to the ground. Little Jane, who held up shards of glass with her hand, watching the cuts in her fingers slowly bleed out and the ants beneath her incinerate, eyes wide and wondering._

_What was I supposed to be?_

**_I'm in misery where you can seem as old as your omens  
And the mother we share will never keep your proud head from falling  
The way is long but you can make it easy on me  
And the mother we share will never keep our cold hearts from calling_**

_They call us 'witch twins,' you know. They sneered and pointed and whispered to their children, 'Stay away from Jane and Alec, they're witches, you see. Those who are kind get showered with good fortune, yes, but those who offend them or injure them somehow, be forewarned; something horrible will happen. Our crops will be attacked by blight, or your arm will be broken. And no one knows how to make them stop, or how to make them happy.' So the children were taught to attack us. Such a shame._

_I never liked the implication behind the word 'witch,' myself. It made us sound like monsters, shadowy figures that cackled and purposefully and tried their hardest to harm everyone around them in order to push themselves into the limelight of eternal youth and glory. Alec and I didn't want that, ever. If anything, that was the one thing we _didn't_ want. Imagine, living forever and watching all of your loved ones dying, and being incapable of seeing them again! (Oh, the irony.) (But hey, at least you're still around, the only person who ever mattered to us.)_

_To be honest, I always thought that, if only they had a twin as well, they might understand. They would see why we defended each other, why I would throw myself in front of Alec's pursuers when he was chased around the village and why he got so angry when I was pushed into the mud._

_If only._

_They would know that our connection wasn't the connection of witchcraft or wizardry, wasn't borne of the darkness to drag them all to hell._

_Ironic that our zodiac sign is Gemini, isn't it? That our paths are apparently dictated by the two twin stars._

_Yours is Cancer, is it not? The child of mystique._

_Of bloody course._

**_Until the night falls, we're the only ones left_**  
**_I bet you even know, where we could go-o-oh_**  
**_And when it all fucks up, you put your head in my hands_**  
**_It's a souvenir for when you go-o-oh_**

_I was worried for you, sister, that you didn't find a mate for so long. I found Demetri, and mere decades later, Alec found Renata. We were completed quickly and efficiently, though I know that even if I never met Demi I would have felt full because I had your and Alec's love already. I'm certain that my idiot twin brother can say just the same._

_And yet, you waited patiently for over a millennium of watching us with our mates, knowing that yours would come along if you were patient enough. You weren't disappointed; you've got Ben now. I guess something good did come out of that stupid battle after all, hmm?_

_You've even got Nessie now. How physically old is she now, anyhow? I would say around twelve. It's going to be a bitch when she looks older than me though. I mean, I like looking so young because everyone new thinks I'm innocent and it's fun to mess with them, but it's rather annoying when you look the youngest out of everyone. Ugh. At least I'm not thirteen for eternity or something. Can you imagine how much of a headache that would be?_

_Wow, I'm really distracted today. This is not going as planned._

(Here, some ink splatters, unintelligible words, and doodles cover a section of the paper about three inches thick. The pale yellow paper is practically covered with the bold black ink that made up the thousands of other words on the page, words that looked like calligraphy.)

_Benjamin just walked in on me and tried to read this letter. From now on, I'm calling that idiot Benji. I don't care how much he hates it. The prick deserves it for nearly ruining my letter to you. He's lucky that I chose not to just stab him every time I see him for the next week, the way I did to Felix that one time in 1500-something. Fun times._

_**I'm in misery where you can seem as old as your omens**_  
_**And the mother we share will never keep your proud head from falling**_  
_**The way is long but you can make it easy on me**_  
_**And the mother we share will never keep our cold hearts from calling**_

_I'm sort of ashamed that I wasn't able to tell you any of this to your face. I've resorted to shoving the letter under your door in the hopes that Nessie won't decide to cut it into snowflakes or something. I know how clever she is, but she can be so _dense_ sometimes, Isa._

_Love, Jane_

* * *

**Song used: "The Mother We Share" by CHVRCHES**

**Different format than usual, so it was a bit more challenging to write this story. I hope it came out as well I think it did.**

**~Shriayle**


	62. Playlist: Battle Cry

**Dear brain, NO WRITER'S BLOCK NOW YOU'RE ALREADY DONE WITH THE STORY FINISH THE EXTRAS NOW.**

**So, _A Thousand Cranes_ is now up. Want to drop by and give it a read? I promise it'll be good D:**

**Also, I made an ask. fm for my stories :D The link is in my profile, and it looks like someone has already discovered it and asked a question. I will answer all of these ASAP, and answers will probably come faster there than on here. So if there are BURNING QUESTIONS not too specific to one fic, go ahead and ask there.**

**I've also been getting a couple of requests, including a new long Twilight fanfic. Buuut I'm wondering, would you approve if I made an account specifically for requests like _Timshel_? I kind of want to keep this account specifically for the story ideas that I have come up with and the such.**

**Replies:**

**Ghostwriter71: **Thank you! I try. |=| **Fanfictionlover124: **I'm using these playlist chapters as ways to give those who want slightly fluffier things more feels to feel. |=| **VampireHaruhiMadokaOuran: **:V back at ya. |=| **I am the Story Teller: **If you want to see a brief synopsis of what is to happen in that story, I've written up a two-sentence summary thing in my profile :P I'm doing a PJO one as well, so don't count against that. And I look forward to seeing your icon EVERYWHERE now xD |=| **kksambo: **HELLO THERE NEW PERSON :D Please don't find me because my friends would laugh that someone is bowing down to my five-foot-nothing stature. Bella is indeed a spineless twat; the only thing I kind of liked about her was her sometimes-almost-never-there sarcasm. I have nothing good to say about Edward. The Volturi are cool and I liked them, if you can't tell. Also the Witch Twins are my favorite characters, so giving them a more human basis with an older sister idea than KILL FOR THE MASTERS was quite fun as well. And on Isabella, she and the twins were originally the main characters, but then it kind of evolved so that the Volturi as a whole was kind of the main character, so I wanted to include as many different perspectives as possible. To be honest, Isabella's character seems rather two-dimensional after a while because she's pondering the existence of her mate (hi ben) for more than twenty chapters, so it was more fun to branch out and include others. And this story is slowly drawing to a close, I'm sad to say. |=| **Rusky01: **I have fun writing these little things :) It lets me explore characters that I wasn't able to in the actual story. And ATC is really slowly being written as well. I hate having to write so much exposition.

* * *

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Alec was haunted by the battles he had witnessed. He never told anyone about the constant flickering of images of shining gore and torn limbs behind his eyelids, but it seemed to slap him straight across the face when he least expected it. When he blinked, sometimes he remembered glowing, fierce red eyes. When he sat still, echoes of choked screams rang in his ears. When he plucked absent-mindedly at his cello, thoughts of the others he tore apart with the same fingers filled his mind.

None of the other guards seemed to realize the horrors of war that they had had to witness. Even sensitive, gentle Isabella steeled herself and slipped on a mask and ignored the monstrous things they had to do for the sake of the vampire world, effectively separating herself from the true violence that they condoned. They condoned it, and they lived it. It was their life after life, to fight for peace.

They had seen so many other vampires crumble into dust, get torn apart with vengeful hands and set on fire. Hell, he had set fire to some of them himself! He had immobilized some to be killed and ripped others' limbs off. It was enough to drive a vampire insane, let alone a guard. Sometimes, he wondered why the others weren't so insane as he was.

**_Just one more time before I go  
I'll let you know  
That all this time I've been afraid  
Wouldn't let it show  
Nobody can save me now, no  
Nobody can save me now_**

His first battle wasn't the battle against the Romanians, from what he remembered, so long ago. It was against a band of nomads that refused to follow Volterran rule. The details escaped him, but Alec could easily remember the battle itself.

He and his siblings hadn't been trained all that much in their gifts and, as a result, weren't that confident in their abilities yet. They were forced to battle via hand-to-hand combat. It was the most terrified that Alec had ever been in his life. Being threatened with dull knives by irate serfs' wives, having to slaughter innocent humans in his first few years as a vampire as he struggled to control his urges, even being thrown into flames by villagers he lived with for his entire life wasn't as horrifying as what he had to witness.

The nomads had been unkempt, with beady, wild red eyes and hair clumped with mud and dried blood. Two were male. One was female. He thought. He wasn't sure anymore. All he remembered was that they scared him badly the first time he saw them. They were demons in the night, sneering creatures that sparkled all so ironically. He had steeled himself when he saw them: these were the disgusting remnants of humans, the remnants that fought for life by gorging on civilizations and painting houses with drying crimson. These were the scraps that he had to make sure were thoroughly destroyed.

The female had leapt at him, eyes rolling, venomous saliva spurting out of her mouth in shimmering droplets. Alec's first instinct had been to punch out, lash out, slap her away. She had landed with a sickening _CRACK!_, her head splitting slightly at the impact zone and her arm almost shattering upon hitting the ground. She was just so old. So old and ancient that she couldn't repair herself as quickly as Alec could, as a newborn. She panted as she braced herself on the ground, her tongue hanging out slightly as her inhumanly beautiful face contorted with cracks and grimaces. He watched the cracks lace their way around her body as she tried to get up without tearing herself into fragments. It was an impossible task.

Crack, crack. Rip, tear. Shred, gasp. Crack again.

It was frighteningly beautiful to see. And it scared him.

He could end up like that one day, if he didn't fight correctly, or keep his body up to shape. He was petrified that he would petrify from lack of exercise.

So he trained himself, thinking about that pathetic female slumped over the ground, grunting and wheezing and trying to regain her breath. He forced himself to think of her when he felt tired and wanted to whine and stop and show his belly or curse the world. He forced himself to get back up, thinking of her.

And as he glanced up, he saw a single star glimmering in the inky blackness of the sky above him. He felt the complete and utter aloneness and the echoes of the battle fill himself. And yet, and yet, he never felt more exhilarated before in his life.

**_Stars are only visible in darkness  
Fear is ever-changing and evolving  
And I have been poisoned inside  
But I, I feel so alive_**

The next battle had been the one with the Romanians. His first with his gift, the first and only one he didn't have to leap into physical combat it. It had been before the rumors of his gift spread; they were surprise enough for the newborns that the guards had been tasked to fight. He could just send his fog out to stop the enemies in their tracks and not have to lift a finger against them. It was just as horrifying as his previous battle.

Watching the newborns suddenly freeze up and collapse as though they were marionettes with their strings cut off. Watching the other guards suddenly move with graceful gestures and quick jerks, decapitating and tearing and burning. Burning with lilac smoke clouding the air and choking his throat, with dust flying from the bonfires that they created. Watching the mate of a Romanian fall to protect her lover and as he is forced to live on in eternal torture for his crimes against the world, just like his covenmate. But his leader, his self-proclaimed 'master' had set himself higher than these dregs by naming himself and his brothers king. He had exerted power. As much as Aro's odd antics interested Alec, no matter how slight or dark the amusement, he was the king. He had been chosen by vampires long since dead or hiding from the guards' combined force.

Nothing could stop the inevitable takeover that Alec found himself in the epicenter of.

And he loved it. Every single goddamn second of it.

Funny how power could easily leech into your brain.

Funny how an older sister could easily pluck out its addictive nature.

Isabella had slapped some sense back into him, shoving him out of the euphoria similar to a drug-induced high. He had been so thrilled that his gift was to be used to readily, so easily. He was wanted by a patriarchal figure, something that had been missing for much of his life. Was he to blame for getting caught up in it? He hadn't even realized that he was getting _arrogant,_ to say the least.

Thank god for interfering older sisters.

**_Nobody can save me now  
The king is crowned  
It's do or die  
Nobody can save me now  
The only sound  
Is the battle cry  
Is the battle cry  
Is the battle cry  
Nobody can save me now  
It's do or die..._**

_**Oh...**_

The battle with the Cullens was the final, most influential battle to him. It was the most recent, the largest, the most defining moment in vampiric history thus far. A collection of vampires, begged to come by one large coven trying desperately to protect their way of life from a threat that they did not fully understand, against the well-trained 'machine' that the Volturi guard seemed to represent. To many, it was the last toll of a clock, the last explosion before an eternity of peace.

If only.

Alec could remember every little detail. He remembered running alongside Jane through crimson and golden and brown leaves, the oblong, thin strips of dying plant material flying up around him as he darted through trunks and soon overtook a shifter that they had been sent to track down. He had fur the color of fresh rust that featured a faint red overtone and brown eyes that seemed black as they dilated in fear. All trivial details that the vampire noticed while calmly observing the sight. Isabella had confronted him with John, taken the dhampir that he tried to whisk away, and sent him and Jane back into the battle.

There, only there did Alec finally see his two sisters fully. It wasn't as if they were lesser before the battle, but in that fight, their unfiltered emotions, their hatreds and desperations, their joys and determinations finally came to light. The second that Jane had been threatened, Alec had become alert, his eyes blazing with unbridled anger. The vampire that had threatened her (a brawny one, though Felix appeared much sturdier) backed away in a hurry upon seeing Alec's mist approach, but he relaxed just as quickly as the mist ran up against a shield. _Damn that newborn_.

Alec remembered calling out in irritation for Demetri, asking him to track down the newborn and distract her long enough to render the vampire useless. The tracker had only glanced at Jane once before hurriedly agreeing and darting away. Alec didn't know what happened afterwards, though he saw Santiago dash after Demetri with his talons already extended, but soon the mist began to creep closer to the broad golden-eyed vampire in front of Alec.

Alec had cursed under his breath when he realized that he had been distracted. One of the Volterran Princesses was still in danger. Bree was still being dangled over a precipice, silent from shock and fear. He had immediately ran forward with a threatening growl tearing itself from his throat, red eyes glaring at the filthy animal drinker that dared try to kill Master Marcus's daughter.

The blonde vampire hadn't noticed Alec's approach until her legs felt ready to give out all of a sudden and she herself was wrenched backwards. He ripped the female's arms off (she screamed like the wounded animal she was and the brawny vampire echoed her shrieks with enraged shouts, though he could not get up) and frantically freed Bree from her clutches. The younger vampire had shoved the disembodied arms off with panicked gasps, her pupils shrinking as she fought phantom limbs. Alec had thrown the arms onto the other female vampire distastefully, not bothering to watch her rebuild herself.

Alec remembered calming Bree down as quickly as he could and taking her to Jane, who merely said that she would take her over to the protecteds. The male had nodded and turned back to the fight. Only seconds later, he had seen the golden-eyed patriarch try and attack Jane for targeting his so-called 'children'.

Alec had seen red. A crimson haze descended across his vision, goading him on to attack, to _kill_ the one threatening his twin, his other half (that wasn't Renata). He faintly saw Demetri in his peripheral vision. The tracker's face was contorted in fury, with blazing red eyes that seemed to practically glow in hatred. Jane was nimbly dodging Carlisle's desperate attempts to grab her arm, her cloak, anything, while also making sure that Bree was behind her at every one of Carlisle's moves. Jane's eyes were steely and expressionless; she had pulled on the mask that Alec expected her to have on. All of the other guards had theirs on long before (except maybe Felix, who just looked really bored).

Jane must have been sending her gift out to other battles, since she didn't seem to care if Carlisle got hit or not. Or maybe she noticed the angered female that was running over, leaving behind a tanned vampire with burgundy eyes and two suspicious plumes of lilac smoke.

Alec had run over to join his siblings. His older sister had literally leapt straight at Carlisle, her lips peeled back as she screamed in outrage. Her eyes looked like coals from their execution all those centuries ago, her face no longer sporting its usual careful expression but instead betraying all of the inner emotions that she usually hid away. She looked like a Valkyrie, like an eagle ready to take down its prey, like a lioness defending her young.

Isabella grabbed Carlisle's shoulder, Carlisle who was taken completely by surprise, and threw him backwards and onto the ground. The second his back touched the scarlet carpet of leaves, Isabella kicked his head, jerking it sideways though not completely breaking it off. He looked appalled; he glanced over at the smoke that Isabella had just run from.

Alec watched his eyes fall slightly.

That was when he knew the battle was over.

But there was one last battle cry he remembered, a cry that would be imprinted on his mind forever:

_"Isa, don't!"_

The two words that saved Carlisle Cullen's miserable life and Isabella's pure conscience.

_**Nobody can save me now**_  
_**The king is crowned**_  
_**It's do or die**_

Now, here he stood again, at the crossroads of a giant battle. It was fated to be huge, larger than any fought before. Maybe. Reina hadn't said anything of the sort, dismissing rumors left and right, so it was probably going to be a minor skirmish, if anything.

The cold wind whipped across Alec's face as he breathed in the chilly air (unnecessary for his lungs, necessary for his nerves). The air froze within him, penetrating far deeper than he thought it would have. He felt Jane stand next to him, not shivering in the slightest. Then again, he wasn't either. It would take a bit more than a spot of snow and some admirably large hunks of hail falling from the slate grey sky before they showed that sort of vulnerability.

Aro was completing his trial. It seemed that some nomad thought to try and rule over all of northern Canada and quite a bit of Alaska by creating an army. An army of immortal children, controlled by a few other fully-grown ones. The 'army' was maybe five children who were kept away from each other unless they were set upon a village to destroy and plunder.

How thick could you get?

The children had torn each other apart as readily as they decimated the human population. Tanya had noticed it when she was out with Kristen and Eleazar hunting. The three had immediately returned home and notified the Volturi. Given the not-so-impressive speed of the epistle in the postal service (Gianna had not yet won the battle against Aro to digitize Volturi Castle), it took a few weeks for the kings to begin taking action. By then, the human population had gone down by thousands, all thanks to a handful of red-eyed babies and toddlers and some children.

Alec really hated his job sometimes.

What was that saying about taking candy from babies, again? Did it imply that it would be easy? Alec could have laughed darkly at the thought. These babies wouldn't want their candy taken away; oh no, and if it was, they would throw a tantrum of massive proportions as well as probably destroy the one that took their candy away in the first place.

He hated small kids more than his job, he decided. At least the job didn't purposefully try to kill you.

_**Nobody can save me now**_  
_**The only sound**_  
_**Is the battle cry**_  
_**Is the battle cry**_  
_**Is the battle cry**_  
_**Nobody can save me now**_  
_**It's do or die...**_

He knew that his siblings would be at his side in this final fight. He could hear Isabella mutter in disgust at the horrifying deed that this stupid nomad had conjured up. The nomad must have been spurred on by thoughts of the Southern Wars and their bloodshed, combined with Sasha's gruesome end. Only a truly corrupted mind could think about blending the two together.

Alec grimly noted that this was something that his own mind had blended together in an elaborate daydream. It had been maybe a month after news of the Southern Wars swept through Italy, and Alec had imagined an army of little Vasiliis roaming around when he heard of 'newborn armies'. His mind was truly shot beyond repair if he could easily picture an army of immortal children.

He decided to never breathe a word of his horrifying thoughts to anyone.

Even his siblings, who he trusted beyond all else. Even Jane, who always knew exactly was he was thinking, as was evidenced by the suspicious and accusing look she gave him just now. Even Isabella, who pursed her lips at Jane's glance and followed her sister's gaze to her brother. Isabella, who had just furrowed her brow momentarily before shrugging slightly and looking away from the twins.

He hated himself for these kinds of tensions, sometimes.

But it was worth keeping a family, right?

**_Just one more time before I go  
I'll let you know  
That all this time I've been afraid  
Wouldn't let it show  
Nobody can save me now, no  
Nobody can save me now_**

And so he closed his eyes, saw those glimpses of battles long since passed, heard those cries of those long since destroyed, and allowed them to fill him. He let the feeling of war wash over him again.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Isabella, racing forward towards a mass of vampires only to leap and land with deadly precision on one's neck, shoving him into the ground and breaking his head off with her feet. She immediately leapt onto another, her cloak streaming out behind her, fingers curved into delicate weapons that proceeded to gouge out the enemy's frightened red eyes. Isabella gave a grim smile before tearing out the tendons in the vampire's throat, letting the shimmering venom within him spew out in every direction, almost like a macabre sort of fountain.

He saw Jane, murderous intent glinting from her eyes as she carefully directed tendrils of her pain to either distract their enemy or render them unable to even move without intensifying their agony. She smirked as one in particular seemed petrified with terror as she calmly walked up to him and ripped off his head with a blasé expression. She nonchalantly held the decapitated head by the hair, staring into the vampire's now filmy and clouded eyes before scratching them (and all of his other facial features) out with a nail, carving _Jane was here, sorry about that_ into the somewhat smooth surface of his ruined cheek before dropping the somewhat spherical object onto the rest of the body. She took her lighter out, turned it up as high as possible, and set fire to the vampire before turning and confronting another.

He watched his sisters duel others, limbs flying, fires crackling.

And he smirked and leapt into the fray himself, a silent battle cry ripping itself from his thoughts and into his world.

This was where he belonged, no matter how traumatizing it may seem sometimes. By his siblings' sides, fighting with them, for a new future that they would unravel, even if they needed Santiago's talons to do so.

* * *

**Song used: "Battle Cry" by Imagine Dragons  
**

**I feel like Alec would remember the battles more than either of the sisters were. He's a thoughtful character. He's also the worst sibling to anger because of this; Jane would probably immediately strike back, Isabella would just let it smolder out (or smack you, depending on how close you are to her), but Alec would seethe for a couple of decades as he waited for his chance at revenge. Scary fellow.**

**~Shriayle**


	63. Playlist: The Volturi Waltz

**A quick little story this time; it's barely 1850 words xD It should provide some more insight towards Volturi customs, I guess.**

**Oops, meant to upload this sooner. Eh, c'est la vie.**

**I've set up a requests account now! It's called Requests for Shriayle (original, I know) and a link to it is in my profile now. Feel free to send in all of your ideas, I guess :)**

**Replies:**

**I am in Loki's Army: **Yeah, I'm starting to lean towards making a separate account, if only to keep myself organized. And personal perspectives are rather fun to type out. |=| **I am the Story Teller: **Petrification can only occur when one is petrified at the moment or if one is petrified of being petrified. Petrified. And that looks correct to me xD 'Petrify' is a cool word to use, I must say. |=| **Rusky01: **Alec's a rather thoughtful, morbid, cynical soul and I love him. And I thought that you guys deserved a little peek into the future of the Volturi, though I couldn't really think of anything too out of the ordinary to talk about.

* * *

Every one hundred years, on the twenty-fifth year of the century, the Volturi had a ball.

Literally, they hosted a ball and invited as many other vampires as they could, sending out parchment invitations covered in flowery writing in their ubiquitous bold black ink. It was the only thing that really remained constant; the Volturi kings and guards would take turns performing a piece on their instrument for the others to dance to. It was usually a masquerade, though the Volturi kept their costumes constant for the sakes of their guests. It was easier to introduce a guard to a newborn when the guard was easily recognizable, after all. And the masks just made the entire thing more fun.

The Volturi liked dressing up for this masquerade. They liked to keep the overall theme of western gods and goddesses, imposing a sort of stern rule over the other vampires. Even in this time of peace, they demanded respect from their subjects. Aro, Caius, and Marcus dressed up as Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon respectively, their queens dressed as the matching wives. As twins, Jane and Alec always dressed up as Artemis and Apollo respectively. It made sense too; Jane's power was sent out in projectiles the way Artemis was always seen with her bow, and Alec's wide-reaching power paralleled the sun's rays.

This time was no different; Jane emerged in her shimmering silver dress, the style of which changed every century. This year featured a carefully cut dress that both showed off Jane's body and concealed it from others. She wore a dark grey cloak that resembled her usual Volturi garb, only this one had strands of white, shining material woven through. It was a lot lighter as well, the material gossamer against her skin. She had a bow strung across her shoulders with a matching silver leather quiver filled with false arrows to complete her look; she looked innocent yet fierce, fitting of the maiden goddess of the moon. Her mask covered the right half of her face and was completely silver, with black dots and white lines to imply craters and moonlight. Her hair was straightened and carefully rearranged on her face to give a floating, ethereal effect.

Alec came in a more muted interpretation of the sun god. He held a decorative lyre, which was a beautiful white birch etched with gold swirls and lines and sparkling strings. He wore a deceptively simple looking suit, which was mostly white with a dark gold shirt under and a black tie. And yet, with every step that he took, he shimmered. It was slightly disconcerting the first time you looked at it; he looked as though he had stepped into the sun and allowed the sunlight to glitter off of his bare skin. His mask covered the left half of his face and was golden with red and orange highlights swirling across, white lines boldly painted on the cheek. The colors seemed to shift about the mask as he walked around the cleared-out throne room, his face carefully arranged in an emotionless expression to display to all.

Demetri stepped forward, dressed as Máni of Norse mythology, complete with a pattern similar to the lunar cycle spiraling around his neck and a mask that exposed only the bottom half of his face, and took Jane's hand. Alec glanced around the room until he saw Renata, who along with the other female protecteds had chosen to dress up as a muse. She looked at him shyly, her mask extending just past her eyes. Alec kissed the back of her hand, smiled at her, and led her from the other protecteds to the small section set aside for the elite guards.

Isabella had dressed up as Athena, as usual. Rather than a mask, she wore a golden decorative helmet that fit somewhat snugly on her head and concealed the top half of her face with only slender holes so she could see where she was going. Her dress was a cream color and based more on the Greek chitonthan an actual dress. It was rather flowy, not really accentuating her curves, and the edges of the fabric hovered over the ground in an ethereal manner, barely touching the marble floors. Her dress was a slightly darker beige near her shoulders and faded to a whiter color at the ends of her sleeves and at its very bottom. It was a practical dress, one that was comfortable as well as suited her. She liked it.

It was Benjamin's first time at one of these balls as a new guard. He had come to one before, when Amun forced him to go in the 1920s. He remembered it being a bit darker, the guard more aloof. Maybe that was because they were stressed out about the newborn wars that were still raging in the southern United States. This ball seemed so much brighter, warmer, welcoming. He watched at Felix brandished his fake hammer, a prop for his costume as Thor, and watched John race up behind him as a donkey before kicking him and running off back in his human form, dressed in his Loki garb. He watched his old coven leader mingle with his new family, Amun exchanging polite words with Demetri and Tia giggling with Jane.

Benjamin irritably readjusted his mask. Damn thing wasn't staying on his face properly.

"I told you that Ares wasn't the best idea," Isabella scolded gently, taking the hand that was messing with the cloth-like plastic on his face. Benjamin sighed and put his hand down, not letting go of Isabella's slender fingers even when she nonchalantly tried to pull them out of his hand.

"Romantic idiot," she mumbled, rolling her eyes (he could see their movement clearly though her eyes were obscured by the helmet). He chuckled quietly.

His tunic was similar to Isabella's chiton and yet completely different. It was carefully slashed to imitate the look of a battle-weary warrior, complete with crimson stains far too lurid to resemble blood, and he wore a mask that covered only the area around his eyes as opposed to the helmet that his mate wore beside him. The mask was painted a bronze and gold with slits for eyes made so that his eyes glowed slightly in the lowlight.

Anastasia and Bree walked up at that moment. The former frowned slightly, grimacing at the sight of her parents. "Why did you have to dress up so _war-y_?" she asked, scrunching up her face as she expressed her disgust for their tastes. She had dressed up as Aphrodite, her almost champagne-colored dress, complete with delicate satin and lace layers underneath and held up only by a single sleeve that was adorned with a large pink rose. Bree had chosen a more conservative, darker look with hers; she was dressed up as Hecate, the goddess of magic, and wore a scintillating outfit that made blacks seem to shimmer in the light.

"Because the gods we chose to be are war-y, as you say," Benjamin responded, smiling widely at his daughter.

"Ben, don't encourage her," Isabella said with a slight groan. Nessie giggled to herself, a smirk growing on her face.

"Encourage me with what? You're just war-y. It's weird."

"You look like a seventeen year old human and yet you have the mind of a six year old," Bree said, poking her mate's cheek. Anastasia promptly pouted.

"Nessie, make sure to say hi to Alice and Kristen. Make sure not to make them feel unwelcome," Isabella said, fixating her wayward daughter with a hard look. Anastasia looked ready to protest until she caught the warning glint in both of her parents' eyes. She sighed loudly and agreed reluctantly. Bree was sure to jump in, promising Isabella and Ben that she would make sure that Nessie talked to the other two females, no matter what she had to threaten the dhampir with.

"Sometimes, I worry about her," Ben commented, watching Anastasia walk away, dragging her heels, towards the Denali coven.

"I would too, but I don't think we have to," Isabella commented. "She's mature enough to understand everything about our world more thoroughly than her birth parents could have taught her. And from what I gather, she's beginning to master the gift that she inherited. It'll be fine, Ben."

The once Egyptian vampire just bit his lip and shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess," he said, sounding uncertain. His expression cleared and he turned to her, holding his left arm out. "Would you honor me with a dance, Isabella?"

The mahogany-haired vampire smiled slightly before gracefully taking his proffered arm. "I shall, Benjamin," she replied, and the two twirled out onto the floor. It was an upbeat song that they danced to, strummed out on Chelsea's lyre and Anastasia's harp (the hybrid had long since abandoned Alice and Kristen for more interesting people before deciding to perform). Isabella watched the pseudo-Aphrodite and pseudo-Hestia play out of the corner of her eye. It had been tricky convincing Anastasia to at least try to play an instrument, as her birth-father had always ignored the dhampir in favor of his upright piano, but the second that Chelsea offered to teach her how to play the plucked-string instruments, Anastasia had been hooked, even convincing Bree to try to learn the guitar.

The song wrapped up deftly, ending on a major chord. Isabella heard the instruments get placed back on their stands and someone else walk up and begin to play something on the piano. She curtseyed to Benjamin, who returned the gesture with a mock bow.

Isabella quickly messed up his hair, earning herself a warning growl and responding with a smirk. "Stop guessing then," she said, continuing their previous conversation, "and just trust me."

"I do trust you, Isabella," Benjamin insisted, crossing his arms in front of his chest and raising an eyebrow at her.

She just rolled her eyes before breaking away from him to walk over to her piano. Damian had been playing a fast-paced minuet, but when he saw her approach he ended the song and relinquished control over the instrument. She smiled at him thankfully and sat down, closing her eyes and thinking about what to play.

"Isa?"

She glanced over. Jane and Alec had materialized in front of her, holding their respective instruments. Jane didn't have her usual flute; the one she held was carved from ivory with gold inlays on the keys. Alec had his more decorative cello, which had a carefully whittled fingerboard and was designed with mother-of-pearl. They were just as beautiful as Isabella's usual piano.

The three siblings smiled at each other before lifting their hands to play a waltz-like piece. Isabella's hands laid out a simple waltz line that Alec and Jane had fun playing with, releasing melodies that sounded like birdsong. Occasionally, Isabella would modulate to a different key, sending the twins into a spiral and making them play their pieces much more boldly.

Isabella smiled to herself. She had never really liked these balls before, but now, with her family surrounding her, she could grudgingly accept that they weren't so bad after all.

* * *

**Song used (sort of): "The Volturi Waltz" by Alexandre Desplat (From the OST for _New Moon_)  
**

**One of my favorite original instrumental soundtracks from that movie; rather fitting that it's for the Volturi, no?**

**~Shriayle**


	64. NEWS

**I HAVEN'T UPDATED WITH ONE OF MY EXTRAS IN WHAT SEEMS LIKE FOREVER UGH SORRY ABOUT THAT. THE LATEST ONE WILL BE UP THIS WEEKEND I SWEAR.  
**

**BUT ACTUALLY: EXCITING NEWS! ****_The Life of a Phoenix _****was nominated for a Black Velvet Award (Best Drama, I believe)! Public voting isn't for a couple of months, but I'm still really excited about this, and if one of you was the one to nominate it, then thanks~ This has also inspired an idea for a new Twilight fic that I will write in the future. The basic plot premise is already on my profile.**

**Also, new cover. I felt like changing it into a photomanipulation.**

**And finally, the last 'actual chapter' (chapter 56) was edited slightly because I really like it when stories have a title-drop and TLoaP didn't have one yet. I made it happen. Yep.**


	65. Playlist: Don't You Worry, Child

**This story is about parental bonds. Like we didn't have enough insight into those yet xD**

**Okay, as I can see that these take HELLA LONG TO GET OUT, I'll make a deal with you guys. Every 10 favorites/follows that I'm notified of after this is posted, I owe you a new storyfic until I'm done with them. As there are only about five more, it should be simple enough. I will also try and post them all by the end of May so I can focus on my newer stories, of which there will be a few new Twilight ones (thanks to all of the lovelies that sent me requests :D )**

**REPLIES:**

**I am in Loki's Army/Lies of a Silver Tongue: **I definitely had too much fun writing that chapter. Especially grown!Anastasia. |=| **Ghostwriter71: **Good that they don't exist in this universe then, hmm? |=| **Rusky01: **Isabella's always going to be a bit of an enigma. |=| **rebekah. vining. 58: **I hope you read it all by now and loved it :) Thanks for reading! |=| **Bluemoon76: **Thank you! I had a lot of fun typing it up.

* * *

Caius never thought about being a father. Not because he didn't want to be a father, but because he knew he couldn't be a father. None of the girls in his little village fancied him, and, to be honest, he didn't fancy any of them either. The one girl that tried to seduce him as a young teenager was the daughter of a merchant, an itinerary girl who snared as many boys as she could in each town she visited. She repulsed Caius, in all definitions of the word. Sure, she was attractive, he guessed, but did he want her? Not really, no.

All of the other boys thought he was homosexual for his apparent disgust of girls. They teased him, saying things like, "Caius just wants another head!" and other lewd remarks. The boys disgusted Caius even more than the girls; he didn't want any of them touching him, much less kissing or anything more passionate than that. He became a loner that wandered the streets with no one at his side.

He had been promised to some girl who fell ill and died before their wedding, for which he was semi-glad. He was said to be cursed after that incident and no father wanted him to marry his daughter. Which was even more than fine with Caius. Now he could wander the streets with no one at his side, and people didn't tease him for it. It was a win-win, in his opinion.

Caius's parents were worried by their son's blatant lack of sexual drive. He was their oldest son, expected to inherit their property. He was expected to be a good centurion and have children and pass the position down through their blood, as the family had always done. The fact that he didn't want to touch anyone other than maybe a brotherly punch or a smack on the head worried them. He wasn't worried about it; it was just natural to him.

But Caius always wanted a child, in the back of his mind. He wanted a little boy or a little girl who looked up to him with wide eyes, one that would come to him for comfort and ask him for stories. The simple things. He didn't want to go through the process of marrying and bedding a girl to get the child; he just wanted the kid. It always seemed like too much to ask for, especially in the way that his society worked. It frowned upon bastard children, if the man didn't already have a wife. And Caius most definitely did _not_ want a wife.

He was set up to rule over his land, with his slaves, and no prince or princess to share it with.

It was a lonely thought.

**_There was a time  
I used to look into my father's eyes.  
In a happy home  
I was a king, I had a golden throne.  
Those days are gone,  
Now the memory's on the wall.  
I hear the songs  
From the places where I was born._**

Athenodora loved children.

It wasn't a secret by any means. When she was younger, her two younger brothers were the apples of her eye. Her mother couldn't have loved them any more than she did. Her mother probably didn't love them any more than Athenodora herself did. She would sing to her brothers songs of the gods and their exploits, of how they ruled evermore, even if the Christians took over. She sang of dreams and whimsical fancies being granted within them, of flowers that stretched across fields for them to pull up and smell their delicate perfumes. She wove tales of brave hunters and fearsome bears, of musical contests and fighting for a woman's hand in marriage. She remembered the glow in their eyes, the rapture with which they listened to her stories.

And then they died by Apollo's arrow, struck down when they were nary nine years old by disease that not even the priests of Asclepius could identify. They tried burning their sage and other leaves, making them drink bitter teas concocted with the same formulas, only for the two boys to die, one after the other.

Athenodora stopped telling stories after that.

She stopped believing in the gods, as well.

She only dreamt of being able to comfort a child again, hoping beyond hope that her brothers would manifest in another being just as vulnerable, one she could protect from the dangers of life somehow.

**_Upon a hill across a blue lake,  
That's where I had my first heartbreak.  
I still remember how it all changed._**

Maisie couldn't really remember a time when she didn't have a family, had others to rely on. As a human, she had three other siblings to quibble and laugh with. As a vampire, she was immediately borne into a coven that loved unconditionally. That was why Siobhan and Liam's deaths were so petrifying for her. It was the first time that she was dipped into the cruel clutches of loneliness and had to combat her problems with no one supporting her.

Loneliness terrified her far more than death or oblivion or destruction did. She used to be able to gaze up at the stars for hours, thinking about how they were so perfectly aligned in beautiful patterns. When Siobhan and Liam fell away from her life, she could only see how cold they were. How far away from her they were. How far away from each other they were. They were merely balls of fire, after all; they didn't ever touch each other or commune and conspire to form the three dots in Orion's belt.

She had somehow found her way to Italy, where her former covenmates had told her she would be safe. She was half sure that they had guided her from the afterlife or something because she was so unsure of herself as she worked her away across the English Channel and Europe to get to the peninsula. And when she arrived, she had somehow found herself surrounded by comforting presences, presences that reminded her of bland hard chunks of food in her mouth that she ground with her teeth as she sat by a roaring fire contained only by a ring of stones. She saw two tall, beautiful figures that made her feel embraced and loved and protected all in one confusing amalgamation.

And she knew that Siobhan and Liam must have had a hand in it somehow.

**_My father said,  
"Don't you worry, don't you worry, child.  
See heaven's got a plan for you.  
Don't you worry, don't you worry now."  
Yeah!_**

Everyone assumed that Marcus would be the ideal husband. He was a gentleman, one that bowed as ladies passed by and greeted other men with a firm handshake. The girls would giggle as he gravely bid them good morn and swoon as he walked away. He wasn't exactly the worst person to look at, either.

His demeanor also meant that he could choose the kind of wife he wanted to have, since all of the girls were throwing themselves at him. Which also meant that girls flocked to him in hopes of being chosen.

And he never really liked any of them.

It wasn't that they were unkind or vapid; many of the girls were as quick-witted as he while also being as delicately beautiful as a rose. But he never felt a connection to any of them that captured his interest, that made him want to stand at their side until the world collapsed into dust.

His manners and refined attitude gave him more time than others before the community became impatient for him to marry. He was given additional years before he was forced to choose someone. A girl amongst all of the suitors, the one who would bear his children and carry on his name after he died.

And he never really liked any of them.

It was maddening to him. He didn't want to bind himself to anyone without thinking. He wanted the choice of his lifetime partner, a partnership that he took extremely seriously. But none of the girls was that partner he sought for so fervently.

Until one day, when he saw an unnaturally beautiful, pale face looking at him from behind a tree. He saw her red eyes, her full lips, her startled expression at being caught unawares.

And he knew. He could feel it. The string that sprung from his chest and wrapped itself around her with a purr of satisfaction that shook his very bones, the one that tied him to the one who would be his eternity.

**_"Don't you worry, don't you worry, child.  
See heaven's got a plan for you.  
Don't you worry, don't you worry now."  
Yeah!_**

Didyme was the quirky daughter of the three, the middle child, the one that no one expected anyone wanted to marry. She loved her older brother and despised her younger sister. When said younger sister eloped with a poor gypsy boy, she laughed it off completely. Aro always thought her peculiar for that; why didn't she care about familial pride? But Didyme knew that she would just be auctioned off to the next available man, and why should she bother caring about her stupid sister that was now no longer in her life? Aro was all she needed after all; he was the protective older brother, the one that she came to when she had her troubles.

One day, he vanished into thin air. He was slated to return home from a trip to another city-state, but he never returned.

Frantic, Didyme remembered rushing out of the city boundaries unawares, searching desperately for her brother. Everyone noticed her absence; they felt more morose and were more easily upset. She had kept the peace between quarrels, and her absence meant that there would be more fighting now. But she didn't know, and even if she did, she wouldn't have cared.

Her world was not complete until she finally saw her brother again, sparkling in the sunlight, startled red eyes watching her carefully. He had spoken to her cautiously, sounding heartbroken at the sight of her. He seemed to wage an internal battle against himself, and she saw his eyes flash red and black as he walked towards her before snapping out of some haze and drew back, snarling. He looked torn, wanting to run over and embrace her and yet not wanting to harm her. Finally, the primal urge was greater than the civil restraints, and he leapt forward in a familial embrace that was far more powerful than she expected and sank his teeth into her neck, letting his venom surge into her bloodstream.

He only staggered backwards in shock, blood running down his face, when her screams began.

**_There was a time_**  
**_I met a girl of a different kind._**  
**_We ruled the world,_**  
**_I thought I'd never lose her out of sight._**  
**_We were so young,_**  
**_I think of her now and then._**  
**_I still hear the songs_**  
**_Reminding me of a friend._**

Bree didn't trust anyone. She was always taught that to survive, she had to live, and to live, she had to trust only herself. She would bring herself out of the misery that surrounded her, not the dumbass she called 'father' or the flighty witch she called 'mother'. Poverty wrapped its hands around her ankles and tried to drag her down, only for her to shriek and kick it in the face before fleeing it again.

Her green eyes began to fill with suspicion, a crawling feeling that drew its fingers up and down her spine, that she never really released. She was always ready to flee a scene, always ready to do anything she needed to do in order to live.

Even thievery. Even selling drugs. She refused to sell her body though; it wasn't just a 'I need to remain pure and innocent for The One'. Rather, it was a lack of pull towards the males that would be her main customers. Yes, she was a lesbian. She had long since accepted it (ever since she was twelve?). Her parents sure as hell didn't. They wanted her to marry a perfect man and have perfect children and live a boring life. She knew that wasn't what she wanted either.

One day, she had been trawling the trash cans of Seattle, as per usual, when an impossibly beautiful boy came up behind her and coaxed her away. Most of her was screaming at her: "Are you insane? What if he wants to rape you? Or kidnap you? Or murder you? Your life might be shit, but it's _yours_, god damn it, and you need to keep it for yourself! Run away!"

Her mind shouted and pleaded. To be fair, she pleaded with herself, asking herself to leave immediately, to _not follow this unknown person who will most definitely hurt me and not give a fuck about it_.

But her body was transfixed, stupefied, her eyes getting wider as they met the boy's red orbs. He cocked his head to the side before grinning widely, like a wildcat.

He had managed to draw her away with the promises of a true family, one that would take care of her needs and teach her how to survive the real world.

To be fair, he didn't lie to her.

**_Upon a hill across a blue lake,  
That's where I had my first heartbreak.  
I still remember how it all changed._**

Benjamin never had a father. He had been raised by a poor uncle who sent him and his best friend even then, Tia, out into the streets to sing for any passing gentry with the hopes of garnering even a few coins in order to buy food for the day.

One day, he held a match for a second too long and found himself tossing the little ember from hand to hand, crying out in surprise every time the tiny fire landed on one of his palms for just a second too long.

He recognized this accident as a blessing, as something else that he could exploit as his own. He became especially skilled in juggling flames, setting tiny coals ablaze while tossing them about, nimbly exchanging them from hand to hand with added acrobatics and never getting more than first degree burns. Anyone passing by, gentry or not, would stare at him in awe and possibly even toss him a coin or two. His uncle treasured him above all else for this, for his efforts to feed the rest of the family.

His fire-juggling was barely enough to survive on the streets, but the attention it garnered was perhaps not worth even the precious additional coins it got. Another figure with dark red eyes watched the boy's skill, watched him grow into his late teens with his dexterity and skill over flames developing every passing day, until the point where it seemed that he bent the very winds and flames in order to create the most mesmerizing displays.

Amun had no impunity when he cornered Benjamin and filled his veins with his venom.

To his credit, Benjamin didn't scream during the transformation. He recognized the flames in his body as an internal representation of the craft he grew fond of, but other things began to haunt him. A cooling wave swept over him before his body was rendered into pieces, cracking from finger to toe. Sometimes, he thought he felt something like a light breeze across his face, blowing the flames into a furious conflagration that gripped him with even more pain than before.

And one day, it all stopped abruptly. It didn't end slowly like the end of a storm. It just stopped. As if someone had thrown water directly onto a campfire and it fizzled out within seconds.

And he opened his eyes and saw everything.

**_My father said,  
"Don't you worry, don't you worry, child.  
See heaven's got a plan for you.  
Don't you worry, don't you worry now."  
Yeah!_**

**_Oh, oh, oh!_**  
**_Oh, oh, oh!_**

**_See heaven's got a plan for you_**

From a young age, Isabella was scoped out as a good potential wife and mother. She was kind, gentle, and willing to listen to anyone else, not to mention beautiful. That her siblings were feared witches was almost inconsequential.

Isabella hated the extra attention that she drew, attention that didn't help her siblings at all. Her siblings, her life. Her reason for living. Her protective instinct, one that would probably rear its head in response to a slight towards her children, kicked in at every punch or push she saw her twin siblings receiving. Every time, a flame lit itself within herself and she responded almost automatically, smacking the offender away and ushering the sibling in question away.

She hated all of her admirers too. They claimed to be God-fearing folk that abided by the Bible, but where in the Bible did it say that abusing children was okay? Every time she saw one of them snubbing Jane or Alec, Isabella felt the need to slap them across the face. When they leered at her, she just shivered in disgust in response.

She never felt that a man could make her feel loved or wanted. All she needed in her life, for more than a millennium, was her siblings. They had their own loves, their own lives, and she was happy for them.

Her heart opened that day in the autumn fields, as leaves crunched beneath her feet and winds blew against her face gently. She had seen the pull that her siblings felt, and now she felt it herself.

She allowed herself to relax for the first time in her life. She allowed herself to finally trust someone outside her immediate family now.

And now she would begin to blossom, with her mate and child by her side.

**_"Don't you worry, don't you worry, child.  
See heaven's got a plan for you.  
Don't you worry, don't you worry now."  
Yeah!_**

Nessie hated her family. She was different, and separated from the rest of them because of it. She was born from a once-human female and a vampire male, two that really weren't even supposed to come together. She wasn't a child borne of love, but a child borne of lust and passion. Her very name was an amalgamation, a blend that was never supposed to have existed. "Renesmee Carlie?" From the grandmothers' and grandfathers' names? Who would have even thought of that except for a girl obsessed with her family?

And they treated her like trash. She was their trophy child, their prized possession, the one to show the others just how unique their precious little family was. Why did they try to live like the humans they once were? They were vampires now, and they lived in covens, for crying out loud. She disliked the golden, sickly eyes that their animal diet so graciously gifted them. Nessie wanted the crimson, healthy, vibrant eyes of their true kind. Then again, she had inherited brown eyes, a shade of brown so deep that her parents were curious who she had gotten them from.

Her entire appearance was a curiosity, to be honest. Her skin tone was tanner than her mother's once albino skin tone and her father's marble complexion, her hair color darker than her mother's mousy shade, her facial features ever so slightly off. She liked her appearance, as vain as that sounds. It set her apart from her 'family'.

A walk to a leaf covered field opened her eyes to how fake her family really was. A contingent of black-cloaked figures, all with glowing red eyes and blank masks for faces, was walking towards the bunch that the Cullens had managed to scrounge up for their defense against the Volturi. She had heard of them from all of the visitors, who seemed to describe them as iron-willed government assassins or something.

She saw an organized group that stood by their leader with unflinching loyalty, but with the freedom of mind to freely do as they wished. She didn't feel that they would attack and kill her, as her mother had insisted they would.

From her perch on Jacob's shoulders, she saw one vampire in particular. A tall girl, her face maybe slightly older that her father's but her eyes so much older. She had brown ringlets with a reddish tint, one that appeared just a shade lighter than Nessie's own tresses, that spilled out of the hood she wore on her head. She stood with two slightly shorter guards, one male and one female, all of their faces similar enough to identify them as siblings. Nessie saw a slight sheen over the vampires, a sheen that seemed to center around the interesting vampire. She identified them as the 'witch siblings' that the Romanians detested so much. They just looked to close to one another to be anyone else.

The girl's crimson eyes darted over to Nessie's face. Red locked onto brown.

And Nessie felt at home, more comforted than she had ever felt in the arms of the teenager that had birthed her.

**_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! [3x]  
Yeah!_**

Family might be dysfunctional, but sometimes it's all we have. Embrace it.

* * *

**Song used: "Don't You Worry, Child" by Swedish House Mafia  
**

**Message fits, I guess. This is more of an insight into some characters' pasts and others' opinions on their stories. Also the Isabella section is really short because I've talked about her relationship with the village/others WAY TOO MUCH and kinda bled it dry. Sorry about that.**

**-Shriayle**


	66. MORE NEWS

**Hey guys! I've been hard at work on the next installment in these epilogues, as well as ATC, but just a heads up: THE BLACK VELVET AWARDS VOTING STARTS TODAY AND LASTS FOR TWO WEEKS, ENDING ON APRIL 14th! Link's in my bio, or just at blackvelvetawards dot blogspot dot com :) If we end up winning this thing, I will post the first chapter in my next main Twilight story :D That's right, I've already got a plotline somewhat out of boarding and it's almost ready to post.**

**#TLoaPforBestDrama xD**


	67. Playlist: Wildfire

**As promised, I've gotten notifications from ten different people, so here's the next installment! Probably the only one you guys wanted to see.**

**Isaben drabbles! So many Isaben drabbles...**

**Remember to vote on the Black Velvet Awards! So many great stories are there if you're a Volturi fan like myself. And remember, if TLoaP somehow wins Best Drama, I'll begin posting on my new Twilight story immediately. Otherwise, you'll have to wait quite a bit...**

**REPLIES:**

**LOST: **Got tired of typing your name out xD |=| **KittyBloor: **Not sure how much of the story you've read, but no. They are religion-y because middle ages. |=| **Matthias Stormcrow: **That is a lot of reviews. Thanks for your enthusiasm xD |=| **TwilightRocks22: **Thanks for continuing to read!

* * *

Isabella never thought that she could find love the way her siblings seemed to.

It wasn't that she didn't think she was loved or could love. It was just never part of her plan. Why should she, the most important person in the world to her siblings, care about her own happiness? She lived to keep Jane and Alec happy. They knew it, though they were a bit upset that she would so willingly give herself up, but she knew it was worth it. They were worth it, God damn it.

That is, until she met a soul with a fearsome gift and warm, burgundy eyes and began to look into herself, unearthing a gem that she didn't know she held.

_**I was dry, broken down  
Could barely feel my heart  
Just lying in the dark  
**_

Isabella hadn't ever thought she would find such a treasure. It was almost dead, mind; its luster lacking, its radiance dimmed until it could rival no more than a simple piece of sea glass. But she knew that there was something else about that little thing, something that she needed help discovering. So she worked at the tiny piece, hoping beyond hope that she could dig it out herself.

She hacked and hacked at herself, searching for the answer to herself, trying to dig out the epiphany. She worked desperately with talons until the day that Benjamin gently forced her hand away and carefully winnowed the gem out for her. He brought out the best in her from where it had been buried away.

And she was forever grateful for that.

_**Lightning bolt to the ground  
You made an ember glow  
It only took a spark**_

_**Now it feels**_  
_**Like my walls are melting down**_  
_**Like a force of nature now**_  
_**Like my walls are melting down**_

The first time they met had been on the brink of a battle. Benjamin had been chosen as a guard for Nessie, then Renesmee, because she had grown fond of him. Isabella had been chosen because she was one of the Volturi's best guards, along with her siblings. They were unstoppable. He was relentless in his defense of the girl who would end up being his daughter. Isabella didn't know at the time, but she was already attracted to him. Neither of them had felt the mate bond before, and they didn't know what to expect. They heard of sparks flying, or glancing at the _one_ and knowing innately.

Their experience was different. From the very moment they met, their interactions felt natural. They weren't awkward around one another, and they didn't feel the need to get to know each other as well as the other mated couples needed to. They already knew everything about each other from the first time their eyes met.

It was as if they were the best of friends from the second that they knew each other. From there, their relationship expanded and blossomed and flowered into a love. A love for their daughter, a love for each other, a love for each other's already established family. It was as if their insides had been dead and withered, and now they had been set alight in a fire that was uncontrollable and unstoppable, even by Benjamin's elemental control. It was a most beautiful bond.

_**It's burning out of control  
Love like I've never known  
Lighting us up tonight  
Woah.. ah.. ah..**_

**_So let's get lost in the flames_**  
**_Just got our hearts to blame_**  
**_You touch me I ignite_**

Marcus had seen their bond and been shocked.

He had long since attributed specific colors to each bond that he recognized. It wasn't a visual bond that he saw; it was more a feeling. He could feel the colors, if that made sense. Red for enemies; the darker the shade, the deeper the animosity. Purple for respect, the shade rule still applying. Yellow for friends; the lighter the tint, the closer the friendship. Blue for a parental bond. Aqua for acquaintances. Green for friendly acquaintances. And the stereotypical pink-lavender shade for mates, a shade universally dubbed the color of love.

But Isabella and Ben didn't have the pink strand connecting their souls. Nay, their color wasn't on any scale that Marcus recognized.

It was white. A pure, glowing, untouchable, unsullied white. A powerfully, near-blinding lack of color.

At first, he was worried. Were they truly mates? No one else really had that kind of color for their bond. He was worried for the girl he thought of as a pseudo-daughter, much more than just an apprentice.

But watching her interact with her mate, he knew exactly what that bond flavor meant.

Their love, their devotion, was so perfect and unsullied that it couldn't really be categorized by any specific color. It held in it the purple of respect, the yellow of friendship, and the pink of the mate bond. It released a blue bond with Anastasia, a red bond with the reformed Olympia coven (though aqua bonds for the two newer members), a green bond with the Denalis and Amazons and nomads, and a yellow bond with the other guards and the Egyptians. It was such an intense blend of all colors that it gave way to a virginal white.

How fitting, for one pair so integrated in the vampire's society to have such a color for their bond. It was the color of new paper before anything is written upon it, of new snow before any animal tramples it.

It was beautiful.

**_Like a wildfire_**  
**_Like a wildfire_**  
**_Woah.. ah.. ah.._**  
**_It's burning out of control_**

**_Like a wildfire_**  
**_Like a wildfire_**  
**_Woah.. ah.. ah.._**  
**_You're burning up my soul_**

Isabella winced at Benjamin's not-very-musical plinking.

"Honestly, you'd think that I was torturing you," he complained when he noticed her irritated twitch. A flicker of flame darted around his fingers, which he hurriedly muffled as soon as possible. It was hard enough watching his mate slowly seem to go insane while teaching him how to play the damn instrument; she would be outraged if he burned it to ashes in a fit of annoyance.

"You are," she fired back sardonically. She took the guitar back from him and stared at it for a bit, carefully plucking a string to see if it was possibly out of tune (highly doubtful). The note resonated throughout the stone room, reflecting off the walls. She played an experimental chord.

"How are you so good at this after playing it for literally one second?" Benjamin bemoaned, falling backwards and stretching across the sofa. Isabella rolled her eyes at her mate's silliness.

"You're just not trying hard enough," she insisted, handing the instrument back to him. It was a custom instrument from some maker in a nearby city, one who had been paid handsomely for his efforts. There was ivory inlay in the forms of his four elements; a crack that stretched across the front to the back, a river flowing across it, a fire sweeping across the top by the fingerboard and frets, and trees growing in random areas. The hole in the center-ish, normally round in shape, had been carved into a sun-moon pattern; half of the circle radiated rays, the other half was shaped like a crescent. It all worked together, somehow.

Benjamin sighed before cradling the guitar in his arms again. As much as he complained, he loved learning how to play with Isabella. He was just practically tone-deaf.

He tried to play a chord again. It turned into a screech of twangs.

"How can you be skilled enough to juggle fire as a vampire when you can't even play a G7 chord?" Isabella asked, her voice dripping in exasperation.

"What's a gee-seven? Isn't that a plane or something?"

"I swear, Ben!" Isabella practically growled. She turned to her keyboard and played a G-B-D-F. The chord echoed around the room, filling the space with the music. "Those notes. In this order," she rearranged his fingers on the frets. When she backed away, he gave her a slightly annoyed, slightly desperate look. He had no idea if he really had it right.

"Play the chord," she commanded.

Following Isabella's orders, Benjamin hesitantly stroked a finger across the six strings. Instantly, the same chord that Isabella played on the piano strummed mellifluously from the strings and joined the notes still hanging in the air from the piano. Benjamin's head jerked up and he gave Isabella a look of amazement as he played the chord again. He had actually _played music and it sounded good_.

She gave him a dazzling smile, which was also a bit of a smirk. "Told you you could do it," she practically sang, leaning back in satisfaction.

Benjamin just smiled and played the chord again. It just felt right.

_**Steady hands, level head  
It all abandons me  
I only feel your heat  
**_

Chelsea had wondered if she could mess with the two's bond.

She had noticed with her own gift a gradient similar to Marcus's, but where Marcus saw color, she saw temperatures. Some bonds were cold, colder than the most frigid of ice floes, and she could take these bonds, force the ends to touch, and imbue it with a lively warmth between the two figures. Some bonds were warm, and she could sever them and take away their warmth until they became the fragmented ends of two strangers meeting for the first time. Some bonds were a moderate temperature, and these she could swing either way.

Mate bonds were much warmer than she felt comfortable with. Some of them were uncomfortably hot, even, resembling a live wire or maybe a burning ember. She could touch them, cool them, yes, but it wasn't in her best interest to do so. She was more likely than not going to hurt herself. But that didn't mean it wasn't fun to _try_.

Many times, she grew close to getting the mate bonds to a reasonable temperature, one resembling the friendship bonds, but she stopped right there and refused to touch it even further. It was hard enough dealing with the covens that Aro tore apart whenever he needed justice. It was even harder to reconcile her morals in that way.

Once, out of boredom, Chelsea sent out her feelers towards the bond that Isabella and Benjamin shared. She didn't expect too much; yes, she expected the uncomfortable heat, but not much else.

The second she touched the bond, she almost cried out in pain.

It was white-hot, virtually unalterable. Where the other bonds felt like a slight heat too much, this one was a burning wildfire of emotion, too hot to even stand near. It was a far stronger bond than many that she had encountered, though plenty of vampires probably had stronger bonds, Didyme and Marcus for example. But for a relationship of less than a decade? A bond this strong was practically unheard of.

Chelsea felt even more admiration for those two young vampires now more than ever.

_**White hot, burning red  
Who knew that letting go  
Would make me so complete**_

Isabella yelped as she dropped the ember yet again.

"Isabella, you're just too scared," Benjamin teased, his own hands never ceasing as he flicked a tiny bit of flame back and forth between his fingers.

"Says you!" she spluttered, "your gift sort of helps you not _burning to death by purposefully wielding flames_."

Benjamin shrugged, smiling broadly as she tried to pick the ember up and just dropped it again.

"Here, let's turn it into a game," he suggested. "Just don't drop the flame."

"What?"

He had already thrown the bit of fire at her.

"BENJAMIN!" She screamed, trying to grab the flame but still throwing it back to him without dropping the damned thing. He just laughed again as he took it and threw it around, back and forth, before gesturing as if to throw it back to her.

"Don't. You. Even. Think. About. It," she said in the most threatening voice she could muster. Others were terrified by this tone of voice alone, but Benjamin just smirked and laughed.

"If you say so," he said airily, summoning water vapor from the air to put the flame out by gathering the molecules into a tiny ball of water. He flicked his fingers to throw away the tiny bit of ash left over from the fire.

Isabella shuddered, partially in revulsion to the now dead flame, partially in relief that it was gone.

Benjamin spared her a look before wrapping her up in an embrace. "I'm sorry if this is a bit too much for you," he murmured, finally seeing just how terrified she was of the tiny spark.

At that precise moment, Jane had been walking down the hallways that led to the garden they were in. The hall wasn't solid marble, like the rest of the castle. The wall to her right, the one that separated indoors from the garden, was made of large arching windows that let rays of sunlight in and reflect slightly off of her skin.

She glanced right and noticed the two shimmering figures in the garden. It was a macabre sight; her sister and her mate, still as statues, the bit of their skin visible sparkling in the cloudy light, their black cloaks obscuring the rest of their diamond-like skin.

Jane silently walked on, unnoticed by the two in the garden.

Never had she seen her sister allow a person not part of the immediate family to hold her in such an intimate way.

**_Now it feels_**  
**_Like my walls are melting down_**  
**_Like a force of nature now_**  
**_Like my walls are melting down_**

Benjamin had no idea what he was doing, following his mate's brother down darkened hallways into an unused room.

Alec knew precisely what he was doing, on the other hand.

They ended up in a granite room, one of the oldest ones in the castle. It was crumbling slowly; Alec could see that the dust had piled more than the last time he had been there, almost two centuries prior.

"Benjamin."

The vampire in question stood with his hands behind his back. He had no greater wish than to illuminate the room with a burst of flame, but he had the feeling that Alec would not appreciate that.

"Alec."

The smaller vampire gave him an amused glance. "I alone among all of the guards here fear not your gift. Feel free to see what is here."

It was as if the younger-looking yet much older vampire had read Benjamin's mind. Not wanting him to suddenly retract that suggestion, Benjamin brought his right hand out and spread his fingers wide. A tiny flame danced across his palm before igniting, hovering an inch or so above his open hand. Benjamin willed it to become larger before glancing up.

There were pictures everywhere.

Paintings, sketches, charcoals. They covered the walls.

"The memory room?" Benjamin asked.

Alec shook his head. "This is the place of lost memories, not the place to remember. This is where we put away all of the things we wish to forget."

Benjamin felt his mouth go dry, devoid of venom.

"And this is where I want to make sure Isabella will not be among these drawings."

The former Egyptian's head snapped towards Alec. Benjamin took in Alec's calm demeanor, his relaxed expression, his emotionless ruby-red eyes.

"Do you truly think so lowly of me?" Benjamin asked, unable to keep out all traces of a growl from his voice. Alec's lips twitched into a smirk.

"Of course not," he said. "But I must make sure. Isabella was the center of my universe for the past thousand-plus years. If you harm her..." He let his threat hang in the air.

Benjamin closed his hand, smothering the fire. "Of course not."

Alec brushed against him on his way out. It was a threat, showing Benjamin that he was capable of much more than just forcing the vampire asleep. "But if you do..."

_**It's burning out of control  
Love like I've never known  
Lighting us up tonight  
Woah.. ah.. ah..**_

**_So let's get lost in the flames_**  
**_Just got our hearts to blame_**  
**_You touch me I ignite_**

On the anniversary of their meeting, Isabella and Benjamin got each other presents.

It was completely planned, and never repeated. They didn't feel the urge to really celebrate their bond, but to celebrate their meeting, something that didn't need to be done afterwards. Where human couples would have joyously lavished each other with gifts for as long as their relationship lasted, vampire mated couples just reveled in each other's presences, glad that they had finally united.

Such had been Isabella and Benjamin. On their first anniversary, they brought each other tiny trinkets that symbolized their bond, but just that once.

Isabella had the easier job. She found a stone carving of a desert caravan. It fit in the palm of her hand, but it still held all of the symbolic value that she thought it could. Camels roamed free of riders, pulling along the box-like vehicle that held treasures galore and unknown. There was a single human present among all of the amusing action: a boy, stretched out on top of a sack, hands behind his head, seeming to nap on top of the chaos. The whimsical nature of the piece seemed to mirror Benjamin's easy-going, slightly dreamy personality.

Benjamin wasn't quite as successful at first. He found objects that he thought she would like, but they didn't really resonate with him. They weren't enough, and besides, Isabella didn't really like jewelry as much as Tia or Kebi had.

He searched for quite some time, travelling in an ever-increasing radius outward from Volterra in hopes of finding _something_.

When he came across it. Finally.

On the day that they decided to exchange their gifts, Benjamin's eyes had lighted up upon seeing the carving. It was exquisitely detailed, even to his critical eye; the camels looked tired yet excited, the boy the epitome of a vagabond merchant.

Isabella didn't know what to expect from him. She knew as little about what she wanted as he had.

Benjamin took out his present, which had been carefully organized in a folder. A black folder, though devoid of the typical Volterran crest.

She bit her lip, taking the folder from him, and opened it.

Her eyes widened, at first with astonishment, then with elation.

"Ben..?" she breathed, carefully taking the papers out of the folder. "When... how...?"

"It took a while to get them," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "But I finally found them, and just in time, too."

In her hands were the original manuscripts for a Mozart sonata. It wasn't exactly a well-known piece, but Isabella could see the clean, graceful marks of fading ink that covered the sheet. She could hear the piece being played in her mind.

She carefully put them back in the folder and set it aside before practically knocking Ben over in a massive hug. "Thank you, Ben," she said.

"Happy anniversary, Isabella," was his only response.

_**Like a wildfire  
Like a wildfire  
Woah.. ah.. ah..  
It's burning out of control**_

_**Like a wildfire**_  
_**Like a wildfire**_  
_**Woah.. ah.. ah..**_  
_**You're burning up my soul**_

Anastasia envied her parents their relationship.

Isabella and Benjamin always seemed so happy together. Just being in the other's presence was enough to make a warm smile light up on their faces.

Anastasia felt this with Bree, for certain, but she wasn't sure that she gained that same amount of trust quite yet with her mate. It was mostly a Bree thing; the vampire was still skittish, despite her attempts to get closer to Anastasia. And Nessie didn't blame her that. Bree had a horrific past.

But Anastasia hoped one day, Bree would trust her enough to grow close to her. And not in the physical way; in the emotional, bonding away.

Just like how Benjamin and Isabella seemed to know one another's emotions at a glance, just like how they shared their most private thoughts with only one another.

That's what Nessie wanted.

**_Somehow you're burning away my doubt (woah)_**  
**_And now I'm yours 'til the flames are out (woah)_**  
**_I'm powerless in the blazing light_**  
**_Only you can prevent the fire we're starting tonight_**

Isabella and Benjamin hadn't had a very physical relationship to start. They were more like best friends that were slowly falling in love. They held hands, they hugged, they laughed with one another. Isabella didn't jump when he approached her from behind and swept her up. Benjamin just replied when she came up behind him and asked him a conversation, not starting and having to think.

Their first kiss wasn't much. It wasn't the huge, life-changing experience that empty-headed human girls giggled and dreamed and sighed about. Isabella had been called into Marcus's office while talking to Ben. He had shrugged away her apologies, leaned forward to press his lips to hers, said "I love you," and she had left. He wasn't stupefied into silence for minutes afterwards; he went to find John and Jasper.

It wasn't a very typical relationship, to be honest. They were completely devoted to one another within days of getting to know each other, and their relationship blossomed into the trusting relationship of a couple married for more than half a century in about half a month.

Jane thought it was beautiful. Alec just rolled his eyes when she said so.

_**It's burning out of control  
Love like I've never known  
Lighting us up tonight  
Woah.. ah.. ah..**_

_**So let's get lost in the flames**_  
_**Just got our hearts to blame**_  
_**You touch me I ignite**_

In the years to come, Isabella and Benjamin, just like the rest of the Volturi, were caught up in wars and saw the fall and rise of so many ovens. Guards came, guards left.

But whenever the other was in danger, their mate was the one to prevent any harm from coming to them. The first newborn that tried to decapitate Isabella was incinerated the second he touched her. The first gifted vampire to set his sights on Benjamin was immediately blocked off and torn to shreds by Isabella. They were ferocious in their defense of the other, and neither tried to convince the other that they were safe and knew what they were doing, for they knew that such arrogance was the first step to the eternal separation that was death.

When a new guard was shown to have traitorous intentions, guarded by a weak mental shield, Benjamin was beside Isabella when she tore his gift away and exposed him for who he was. When a battle saw Jane's gift deflected towards Benjamin by a gifted vampire, Isabella immediately defended him before leaping at the new adversary, lips curled back in an inhuman screech.

They knew that the other would be at their back, no matter what. They knew that the other would keep an eye out for them, even while fighting.

Such was their bond. Such were their circumstances.

_**Like a wildfire  
Like a wildfire  
Woah.. ah.. ah..  
It's burning out of control**_

_**Like a wildfire**_  
_**Like a wildfire**_  
_**Woah.. ah.. ah..**_  
_**You're burning up my soul**_

_**Like a wildfire**_  
_**Like a wildfire**_  
_**You're burning up my soul**_

She loved him. With all her heart. And he her, with all his.

Funny how that works out.

* * *

**Song used: "Wildfire" by Sam Tsui  
**

**There were too many element references for it to not be used.**

**~Shriayle**


	68. Results are out!

**As you could possibly guess from the chapter title, Black Velvet Awards released their decision, and TLoaP got second overall in Best Drama and, from what it looks like, most of the reader votes. Thank you all for taking part, and as I promised, I will be bringing my next Twilight story up to the front of the line! I will be posting the first chapter of ****_A Jury of Her Peers _****this weekend, so keep watching for that, and if you're following ****_A Thousand Cranes_****, I am currently revising the next chapter, so that will be uploaded as well :D**

**In the mean time, another storyfic will be posted next weekend, during which I will be on two ten-hour bus rides (yay reno jazz festival) and will be writing and drawing and overall being bored.**


	69. Afterword

**Hey guys, Shriayle here. At this point, the songs I had planned for this fic really didn't fit with what my idea of it was, and since I've got more projects now, I'm marking this story as complete. Thank you for all of your support for this entire journey!**

**Special thanks to Lorindol Tinuviel for language translation help; I am in Loki's Army/Lies of a Silver Tongue, Arabella Whitlock, and rinlovesyou for letting me use their OCs throughout the fic, and everyone who reviewed for giving me ideas that turned this story from something completely small and innocuous (I remember the first review on this story asking if it was going to be a Bella/Edward, perish the thought) into something so big and widely recognized that it was nominated for an award within one year of this accounts inception. This story would not be as amazing as it is right now without all of you guys.**

**If you want to read some of my newer works, I have another Twilight story up now! ****_A Jury of Her Peers_**** is quite different from this story, with different pairings and characters, but it's looking promising thus far :D Also, I might update my Requests account soon, so if you have any more (Guest, I have your idea written down!) then please send them to me! I will update sporadically in everything.**

**All in all, thanks for this wonderful adventure, and I hope you will join me in more to come!**

**~Shriayle**


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